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BREVARD COUNTY · LOCALDecisions publishedPartial coverage

Brevard County Board of County Commissioners

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 · County government meeting record

The 30-second read

Recorded outcome

Proclamation recognizing October 10, 2023 as the 112th National Day of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

The Brevard County Board of County Commissioners held a final budget hearing on September 19, 2023, to adopt the FY 2023-2024 operating and capital budget of approximately $2.04 billion. The Board approved final millage rates for various county taxing authorities, including the General Fund, library, mosquito control, fire control, and law enforcement districts.

Why it matters

This document establishes the property tax rates and total spending levels for Brevard County government services for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

What happens next

No later meeting or follow-up date is stated in the reviewed record.

An official outcome record - an action agenda or minutes - is published for this meeting.

Captured actions

42

Recorded outcomes

42

Source artifacts

1

What changed

Other key decisions

42 captured items have a publicly linked outcome. These 5 are the clearest resident summaries in the record.

Search all 42 meeting actions
  • Item E.1.

    Proclamation recognizing October 10, 2023 as the 112th National Day of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

    Moved by Tom Goodson · Seconded by Rob Feltner

    approved - The Board adopted Resolution No. 23-120, proclaiming to recognize October 10, 2023, as the 112th National Day of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
  • Item D.1.

    Announcement of the Percentage Change in the FY 2023-2024 Aggregate Tentatively Adopted Millage from the Aggregate Rolled-Back Rate

    approved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to consider the percentage change in the FY 2023-2024 aggregate tentative adopted millage from the aggregate rolled-back rate. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Item allows for the reading of the tentative aggregate operating millage rate to fund the portion of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024 budget that is supported by property taxes; and at this time he would ask that the Budget Office read into the record the tentative aggregate millage rate for FY 2023-2024. Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated the aggregate tentative millage rate for FY 2023-2024 budget is 4.6383 mills; and this represents no change from the aggregate rolled-back millage rate of 4.6383 mills. There being no comments or objections, the Board acknowledged the announcement as read into the record that the aggregate rolled-back rate for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 is 4.6383 mills, the aggregate tentative rate is 4.6383 mills, and the percentage change is 0.00 percent, including voted millages.
  • Item D.2.

    Public Comment: Re: Revised Tentatively Adopted County Operating and Capital Budget for FY 2023-2024

    approved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to accept public comments concerning the revised tentatively approved County operating and capital budget for FY 2023-2024. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Agenda Item allows for the public to comment on the County budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024; and before the Commission begins public comment he would ask that the Budget Office read into the record the FY 2023-2024 budget. Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated the FY 2023-2024 budget is $2,042,281,887; and the budget represents an increase of 52,980,951 or 2.66 more than the FY 2022-2023 current budget of $1,989,300,936. Mr. Abbate announced the Board is now ready to accept public comments on the budget for FY 2023-2024. Chair Pritchett advised she has no public comment for this Item. There being no comments or objections, the Board accepted public comments concerning the tentatively approved Operating and Capital Budget for the County’s 2023-2024 Fiscal Year, including Charter Officers and Dependent Special Districts.
  • Item D.3.

    Public Comment, Discussion and Adoption of the Resolution Establishing Final Millages for FY 2023-2024 for Brevard County

    Moved by John Tobia · Seconded by Jason Steele

    approved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing for public comment, discussion and adoption of the resolution establishing final millages for FY 2023-2024 for Brevard County. Mr. Abbate advised the Board that it is recommended that the Commissioners discuss the budget since it must adopt the millages and related budgets separately; and comments and motions concerning the individual tax levies can also be made at the time each millage is adopted. Chair Pritchett advised she has no lights and no public comment. Mr. Abbate stated this Item allows for public comment, discussion, and adoption of the final millages for FY 2023-2024; and if there are any public comments on this Item now would be the appropriate time to hear those comments. Chair Pritchett noted she has no public comment on this Item. Mr. Abbate continued by saying the Budget Office personnel will now read into the record the millage and related ad valorem revenue for each taxing authority; following the reading of each tax levy it is recommended that the Chair entertain a motion for approval of that millage. General Fund Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated for the General Fund Countywide, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 3.0486, which is a 2.45 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 2.9756, generating $186,037,616. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for the General Fund at 3.0486 generating $186,037,616.
  • Item D.4.

    Discussion and Adoption of the County’s Final Budget Resolution for FY 2023-2024

    approved - Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated it is now time for public comment on Agenda Item D.4., Discussion and Adoption of the County’s final budget resolution; once public comment has been received the Budget Office will read into the record the resolution adopting the County’s budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024; and following that resolution and any input received from the Board, staff recommends that the Chair entertain a motion for approval of that resolution. Commissioner Tobia mentioned he has something to add before public comment; before he does that he would like to thank four individuals as well as some groups; the first one is the Public Defender, Blaise Trettis, and this idea was a brainchild of his and that is a first; secondly, he would like to thank Commissioner Steele, he was in the newspaper today, as well as on Twitter making his voice heard, so he appreciates him voicing his opinion, whether he is on his side or not; third, he wants to thank the electorate; he thinks a number of folks, including himself, certainly heard from a diverse group of people; Ms. Pam Castellano is probably the most active individual, he thinks, the head of the Democratic Party and probably communicated more with the Republican than she had ever done previously; and finally, he wants to thank Tim Bobanic, Supervisor of Elections. He noted he texted Mr. Bobanic today and he quickly responded; he wanted to make that a precursor to what he is about to say; back to Mr. Blaise Trettis, he thought he had a unique idea that turned out to be not all that unique, and even more brilliant than what he probably understood when he mentioned it; his idea, and this was mentioned to Mr. Bobanic as he wanted to give him a heads up prior to him coming up and speaking, if he decides to do that, was that sample ballots are important tools however they are redundant tools for individuals who get vote by mail ballots themselves; in fact, he thinks the Mr. Bobanic has even mentioned there are folks that receive a sample ballot after they receive their official ballot, and the idea would be to not mail sample ballots to the vote by mail voters; what he did today, real quickly, was go over the various Supervisor of Election (SOE) websites, there are 67, and he looked up what it said about sample ballots for this type of situation; and Lake County, Osceola County, Palm Beach County, Sarasota County, St. Johns County, and Volusia County, at a minimum, are the ones that stated that if an electorate received a vote by mail ballot, they would not receive a sample ballot. He mentioned these are diverse counties across the State and they represent almost 3.7 million citizens; these are small and large counties, and counties that are overwhelmingly Republican and Democratic, therefore a good cross-section; Mr. Bobanic mentioned, and he thought it was a very good point about circulation, which he will get to in just a minute; the initial part of the compromise would be to fund sample ballots, short of the vote-by-mail voters; this is not unique and he has passed out here what is readily available on the SOE websites for those mentioned, that people would not be receiving a sample ballot if they have a vote by mail ballot; and would they need to place an ad in the newspaper, absolutely, but there is still a cost savings. He continued by saying as a point of reference, the newspapers of circulation are relatively similar to that of the Florida TODAY; all are within 10 percent, short of one, being Volusia County, which is a little more than double, but the others have within two or three thousands of Florida TODAY, so it is somewhat similar; again, that would be an area of compromise; and he wants to again thank Mr. Bobanic for his willingness, the electorate, Commissioner Steele, and Mr. Blaise Trettis, whose idea this was, and was backed up because this is done all across the State of Florida. He added there would be a savings; and that is the compromise he will throw out so that a bulk of people would get sample ballots. Chair Pritchett asked if Mr. Bobanic wanted to come up and address the Commission. Mr. Bobanic stated he would appreciate the opportunity to address Commissioner Tobia’s suggestion; he had a good conversation with Commissioner Tobia today and he appreciates him reaching out; he is always willing to hear any alternate ideas, he certainly does not think he is the know-all, be-all of everything that there is; the main problem he has with this is two-fold; first, in the 2022 general election there were over 24,000 voters who were mailed a sample ballot but voted in person; they ran a query on the database and 24,000-plus voters requested and received a mail ballot, but they chose to vote in person; Florida Law prohibits a mail ballot from being used as a sample ballot because it is a live ballot; a voter cannot walk in with their mail ballot fill it out and say they want to vote in person and take that with them because it is a live ballot and by law they are required to surrender that ballot; and that does happen sometimes and they have to literally send the voters outside and make them take a picture outside because photography is also not allowed in the polling place. He went on to day he calculated the numbers in anticipation of this and if they were to remove the mail ballot voters from the sample ballot mailing, and he agrees there are counties that do this, it would save about $70,800; according to at least the 2018 numbers on the Florida TODAY, sample ballot publishing in the newspaper, it would be $58,315, and in essence, he would be saving about $12,000; and while he certainly values every single penny of taxpayer money, he would be saving $12,000 in order to publish it in a paper that has a subscription rate of about 12,000 Sunday subscribers or reaching 150,000-plus voters who may or may not choose to vote that mail ballot and turn it in in-person. He mentioned to him is pennywise-pound foolish; he does not believe it is worth the $12,000 savings just to accomplish that; and he would respectfully request that the Board not propose this idea. Chair Pritchett stated Commissioner Feltner brought this up last time about the presidential primary with only two names on it and she thinks that is probably a good idea to just place that in the paper because if one does not know both the names by that, that would be one that she would request; she noted Mr. Bobanic is the one making the decisions, but just common sense, that one hits her a little bit. Mr. Bobanic noted he understands that; as he said in the meeting, his office could do alternate options between the two different elections, however, there is so much more information on the sample ballot than just two voters, or two or three candidates, or so forth; there is the voter identification requirement to vote, the person’s precinct and polling place is on the sample ballot, the list of early voting sites with locations and times, and a list of their administrative offices, information about secure ballot intake stations; there is far more information, especially in that election, that educates the voters beyond just the ballot itself; in that particular case, and voters have been accustomed to receiving that ballot by mail for all those years; he understands and they did budget less for that election, they only budgeted for Republicans and Democrats knowing that No Party Affiliation (NPA) voters would not be able to vote in a closed presidential primary election; and if the current President does not draw opposition and there is only a Republican primary, he would be more than happy to refund the money back to the County for that difference. Chair Pritchett noted she has one quick question; she stated Mr. Bobanic can do what he wants to do, he has all these choices, but she still has a problem with paying all of these people’s return mailings; she personally, as a citizen, struggles with that because she does not want to pay everybody’s return postage on their ballot. Mr. Bobanic advised he understands that; he noted there were multiple reasons over the years that they implemented that; it was first implemented two years ago by Supervisor Lori Scott, and a lot of it had to do with the fact that, at the time, when the drop boxes were implemented, it was a way for voters to deposit their ballot free and they were open 24/7; then the law changed and there had to be security manning them at all times, and for the cost of having security guards manning them at all hours of the day, versus operating them on normal business hours, and giving another free option for voters to return a ballot; he did receive a number of calls on this particular topic as well and he heard mostly from the disability community; there is a reason they get a mail in ballot is because they do not have the ability to get to their polling place, they have the same restrictions getting to the post office to get postage; the other group is the elderly community, who also have the same restrictions; they either live in an assisted living facility or in an area where they do not have the ability to get to places; and he respects Chair Pritchett’s opinion on that, he just does not feel that a voter should have to pay to vote. Chair Pritchett commented she does not disagree with the things he does but he is talking about the small percentage of the section that comes back; that is just for voter education to think through that; it was implemented a few years ago because she used to work with SOE and Ms. Scott would say, “man, they did not put the postage on, but we have to pick it up anyway,” so she remembers that being a hot topic for Ms. Scott; but just so he knows, she is personally still going to struggle with that. Commissioner Steele asked Chair Pritchett if that was a motion or a suggestion by Commissioner Tobia. Chair Pritchett advised she thinks it was a suggestion. Commissioner Tobia agreed that it was a suggestion, but if there is no second and Commissioner Steele wants to go forward for the benefit of the public, he just does not want to obviously vote before hearing public comment. Chair Pritchett agreed with that. Commissioner Steele stated with that he has heard from the public and he knows what the public has to say, but he will listen to them again. Mr. Bobanic stated he appreciates Commissioner Steele giving him the opportunity to discuss this again. Commissioner Goodson asked how this works for servicemen who are overseas. Mr. Bobanic explained for servicemen who are overseas, SOE does not pay postage regardless, because the Federal Government pays for that; it is called Par avion mailing; and any military that is out of the County and overseas, military and civilians, those numbers are not included in his budget numbers because it is paid for by Federal Law. Commissioner Goodson stated he has heard so much about get a newspaper and get ballots; Sunday morning he and his wife decided to get a paper to see how easy it was going to be; they went five miles and four different 7- Elevens, now they did not go to Publix because he knew they would have them, but out of four 7-elevens in Rockledge going to Merritt Island, not one had a Sunday paper; and if what Commissioner Steele is proposing does not go through tonight, he would suggest that everyone huddle up at Publix because that is the only place one is going to get a Sunday paper. Chair Pritchett stated just so people know she never really had a struggle with this part of it. Mr. Bobanic asked if he could make one quick comment. Chair Pritchett allowed it. Mr. Bobanic stated there are two things about the newspaper/sample ballot; first, as Commissioner Goodson pointed out, there is difficulty getting the newspaper, but the ballot that one receives in the mail is specific to the voter; it has the exact races in the exact order that he or she will see when going to the voting booth; publishing a sample ballot in a newspaper of general circulation requires his office to create a composite ballot; it is every possible race that could exist for any possible voter; they would have to go in and start with representative and congress and state this is for all voters; then they would go County Commission District 1, and explain that it is only for voters in this precinct; and County Commission District 3, and it is only for this precinct. He explained voters get a ballot, they do not necessarily know what their precinct is and what their districts are, so they will look at all of the races on the ballot; they would have seen 19 amendments, eight for Palm Bay, and all voters would have seen all eight amendments that Palm Bay had in the 2022, when only a small portion of Palm Bay actually would have voted on those; it does create questions, and they had questions when they advertised in the newspaper before the sample ballot; and by giving it specific to the voters, they know exactly what to expect when they walk in. Chair Pritchett stated just so Mr. Bobanic knows, the only thing she is looking at is dollars and she cannot help that, in her head things are green and white; and she knew this was going to be another discussion. Commissioner Feltner asked if there is something that appears like a sample ballot in the newspaper in 2024, that would not be coming from his office. Mr. Bobanic advised his office is currently not budgeted to publish in the newspaper, at least the requested budget is for mailing. Commissioner Feltner stated there was something that looked like a ballot, he is thinking of the last cycle. Mr. Bobanic mentioned yes a composite ballot is what they would put in the newspaper, it would not actually look like a real ballot. Commissioner Feltner asked if the SOE placed one in the paper during the last election cycle. Mr. Bobanic advised his office has not put one in the newspaper since before 2018. Commissioner Feltner expressed his thanks. Chair Pritchett asked what is the difference with a composite ballot. Commissioner Feltner advised Mr. Bobanic could answer that better, but it would have all the races on there, so if one is in County Commission District 1, it will have one, three, and five. Mr. Bobanic explained he cannot make a specific ballot for each individual, they have over 35 to 40 unique styles in each given election; and he certainly could not do that in the newspaper. Chair Pritchett stated okay. Commissioner Feltner stated just to clarify, in the general election obviously there is the referendums; some of them could be unique to different districts and cities also, and he would have to place all of those in there. Mr. Bobanic responded affirmatively, stating that would have been seen in the last election. Chair Pritchett inquired who prints the sample ballots, or if they are printed in-house. Mr. Bobanic advised they are printed locally with a vendor in Brevard County. Chair Pritchett asked if the SOE does any printing in-house. Mr. Bobanic answered by saying they do some printing in-house; they print the daily mail ballot runs, the initial mass mail run is printed out by an outside vendor because it is such a large volume; however, they do print all of the daily runs. He explained if they get 2,000 or 3,000 request each day after the initial mail goes out, they print all of those in-house. Chair Pritchett asked, for an actual ballot. Mr. Bobanic responded yes, for an actual ballot, they print those ballots in-house; he stated obviously, the election-day ballots they use an out-sourced vendor because they print mass volumes of those and have them padded, shrink-wrapped, and organized so they have a specialty vendor that does that. He mentioned he does not know of any counties, other than the largest counties, that can afford the equipment that would be required to print all of the materials in-house. Commissioner Feltner stated just to clarify on early voting, those are printed on the fly. Mr. Bobanic responded those are printed on demand; his office has on-demand ballot printers; and that is how early voting has always been. He added because a person can go to any early voting site, he would have no idea who is going to go to what site, so when a person checks in, it prints that person’s unique ballot style on demand right next to the check-in station; and they are handed to the voter. Commissioner Steele stated he does not know if the lovely people that are there would really like to speak, perhaps the Board could give a motion to see what the motion is, and that way the people in attendance could still speak if they would like to, but he thinks he knows where this is going to go. Chair Pritchett stated she thinks she still wants to go ahead and go through public comment real quick just in case it does not go the right way; and she thinks that is just smarter right now. Mr. Bobanic commented he thinks the public would love to speak. Chair Pritchett agreed. Helen Voltz stated first she would like to thank the Board for going through all of this; she knows, she has been in the Board Member’s shoes and it is a tough decision to have to go through; she thanked Commissioner Tobia for another thought on this entire process; she appreciates the Board for what it does because she knows how hard it is when sitting up there with a room full of people, either for or against whatever it is that the Board is doing; and she thanked the Board again, advising that she supports Mr. Bobanic’s budget for the education of the voters and what they need to know, because she was one of those. She mentioned she has always been one for absentee ballots; last year was the first year she had taken hers in with her to vote in-person; and she has always been working on campaigns of some sort, so she has always been so busy and did not have time to get over there to vote in-person. Sandra Sullivan expressed her appreciation to the Board for bringing this back for consideration and listening to the will of the people; she stated she was feeling very discouraged lately, it seemingly was that the will of the people was not being heard by the Board; she stated she hopes the vote today reflects the will of the people; as a volunteer, as a poll watcher, she has seen people come in with their live ballots and they have to be destroyed; she knows that there are so many referendums that are very difficult to understand; and she sees, just in her circle, people have conversations and they use the sample ballot to talk with their neighbors, friends, and political groups to see how they should vote, because frankly, the language is so confusing many times. Judy England stated she is nervous and is not a public speaker, so she is hoping God gives her the right words to say; she really appreciates Commissioner Feltner and Goodson’s vote from before; she really appreciates what Commissioner Steele has done today; she knows the Board is concerned, but Brevard County has a nationally recognized Supervisor of Elections Office; Brevard County’s elections are smooth; she takes her ballot, because she is old and when she gets in there she gets confused, she takes her ballot and marks it; she is in and out, people are not waiting on her; and she is glad the Board is considering the public tonight. She thanked the Board again, and stated God bless everyone. Marcie Adkins stated she likes Commissioner Tobia’s idea, but then she thought about it, being a poll worker herself, and seeing people come in with the live ballots and wanting to use that to vote from, so she thinks that is a problem; she loves her sample ballot; and she would appreciate having them for everyone. Theo Adkins stated he thinks the Board has already satisfied him; he wants sample ballots; he uses them; and most of the people he knows that vote, especially the retired ones, use them. Eileen Sepp stated she loves the sample ballots because prior to them being issued, she used to spend so much time trying to find who was who and what everything was about; her last ballot was four pages, and if she had not had that with her it probably would have taken her an hour to cast her votes in Palm Bay; she mentioned she also has one issue with the postage for people who do the mail in ballots, and that is, to her it seems as though the County is charging people to vote; the cost for a citizen to put postage on that is far less than it will be for a government permitted bulk mail; and she does not think that is fair because she does not even use stamps, she pays everything online. She went on to say as far as the sample ballots go, if she does not get one, then she has to vote by mail, otherwise, she is going to spend an inordinate amount of time in that ballot box. John Hearton stated he wanted to thank Chair Pritchett for being a numbers person; he was researching this a little bit and saw that Massachusettes Institute of Technology (MIT) had basically an average of about 30 percent increase on Presidential election years, versus the 19 percent that he thinks Mr. Bobanic was asking for; it seems like he is doing his job and trying to save taxpayer money; secondly, as far as support to the sample ballots and the postage, they are in a situation where a lot of people do not necessarily have the opportunity to get out, there is an elderly population here, some in independent living and care facilities that need to have the opportunity to be able to do some research, take a look at who the people are that are going for the positions, and who is going to represent them; and not having that opportunity in time to research it becomes an issue. He added, obviously, if there is a situation where there is a charge for postage on top of that, it is yet another thing being asked of the seniors to do and trying to get out to the postal service to make sure they have enough stamps and so forth to address the problem; that is his two cents; and he is in favor of the sample ballots as well as the postage. Diane Locklair stated she is one of those people who receive a mail-in ballot and then bring it to the polls on election day and surrender it because she does not trust the elections any longer, since 2020, and even before then; she saw things that she had never seen before; she has been voting since she was legally allowed to; she has been in this area her life, minus 10 years; she has been a poll watcher the last three election cycles; and she has observed people bring their sample ballots to the poll and when they get to their private space with their ballot they pull it out and use it to transpose onto the actual ballot, and she does the same. She mentioned she uses that as a research beginning, to talk to her sister, brother, her other relatives, her friends, and her groups; she takes care of a lot of elders in her family and they have the wits and the ability to vote but they do not have the means for internet, online, go to the store, or any of that stuff; this puts disability people and elders in a terrible disadvantage and it sends the wrong message with all this election integrity concern going rampant in this country; and she thinks this is the wrong time to be cutting something that has been a long established and very well appreciated help. Pamela Castellana stated she is going to be in agreement with the whole room but her party’s voice is going to be heard too; she thanked the Board for acknowledging the voice of the voters; she stated she actually communicates with Republicans a lot; she is the chair of the Democrats, but when it comes to voter education, like a lot of issues in this County, it is all partisan; and in an era when people are urging more civic education in schools in the hopes of encouraging more civic engagement and better educated voters, she asked why one would even consider taking away the money required to provide the simplest, free, voter educational tools for the voters. Connie Smith stated she is there to respectfully ask Commissioners Pritchett, Steele, and Tobia to reconsider their votes to cut the $318,223 from the SOE budget; this request is about making sure voters have as much information as possible to make informed decisions when they fill out their ballots; she knows everyone says this, but this next election may be the most critical election of people’s lifetime; and she asked the Board to please not take away discretionary money form the SOE Office that covers the mailing of sample ballots and vote-by-mail return postage. She continued by saying people know that every four years there are Federal elections, so there are more elections to cover; it makes sense that the SOE budget would increase every four years, then drop back after the Federal election cycle; it is also her understanding that Brevard County has extensive commercial and residential construction projects that have been completed in the County, adding billions of dollars to the tax rolls; therefore, there is money to fund the SOE. She noted it is also her understanding that there are, in the proposed budget, seven new renovated fire stations; and she can go through the list of the proposed budget but everyone is getting a tax rate reducation for the property tax if it is passed, which is wonderful. Vicki Impoco stated she is there to add her voice to the growing chorus of Brevard County citizens in support of SOE, Tim Bobanic’s proposed budget; the Commissioner’s 3:2 vote to cut funding from the SOE Office to mail out sample ballots and provide paid postage is a disservice to the Board’s constituents; her husband and herself rely on the sample ballots to research not only the candidates, but any municipal, County, and State-wide amendments that they are unfamiliar with; and filling out the sample ballots and taking them with them to the polls streamlines the process and ensures they are informed voters. She noted 32.9 percent of Brevard County voters voted by mail in the 2022 general election; all of these voters benefited from the election’s office providing paid postage for the return of their ballots; Commissioner Steele stated that if voters want the convenience of voting by mail and value their vote, they can stick a stamp on the ballot envelope before mailing it in; and she strongly disagrees, paid postage helps many seniors who are no longer able to go to a post office to obtain stamps, to return their ballots, as well as those in the community who are disabled or have health issues. She added Florida Statute 101.62 additionally has limits on who can help a voter return their vote-by-mail ballots; a voter’s ability to reach a post office should not be a determining factor on their ability to cast a vote in their preferred method; she would like to thank her Commissioner, Rob Feltner and Vice-chair Tom Goodson for the votes; and she sincerely hopes that Chair Rita Pritchett and Commissioner Steele reverse their votes to fully fund the SOE. Clarence Whipple, Jr. stated he is in support of maintaining the finances for the SOE; he asked the Board to please do what is right for the citizens in this community and provide them the opportunity to be prepared when they come to vote; he went on to say sending the sample ballots is the right thing to do; he sent Chair Pritchett some communications, he does not know if she received it or not, but he can hopefully do it here in the matter of one minute and 15 seconds; and he read, “This communication is to request that your vote to maintain the revenue needed to continue the practice of mailing sample ballots to your constituents and all qualified voters is a must. The budget for the SOE makes more sense to fund than to defund. We ask that on behalf of the citizens of this community, that you maintain those funds. Please consider this request as one that supports all citizens of the community. Funding the issue has more advantage for all people, than disadvantage for a chosen few.” He thanked the Board for reconsidering the issue and stated hopefully, the Board can vote to give the people’s desire. Diana Schommer stated she is a member of the Election Integrity Committee of Brevard Republican Executive Committee (BREC); this is all really very simple, she just wants her sample ballot; she uses it, she does research with it, and she has a group of people who always come to her because they know she puts a lot of time into the amendments and the individuals; she wants to be prepared for them, not just to tell them to vote for something, but why to vote for something or why to vote against something and what her research shows; she really uses that sample ballot to a great degree; and she counts on it. She continued on to say she is immensely happy with Commissioner Steele; she is very glad to see that he understands the older people; the $318,223 is out of a $2.04 billion budget and is only .016 percent of the budget and yet it will negatively impact every voter in the County; it really is an issue of importance for all of the voters; it really needs to happen; she feels like the other things she was going to say, she is going to leave out, because she is going to be nicer, and this sounds like it is going to turn out happy; and she hopes it does.

Money

Show 24 more recorded amounts

People and votes

Feltner

12 recorded votes

  1. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for the Brevard Library District at 0.3467 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  2. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Brevard Mosquito Control at 0.1427 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  3. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Fire Control MSTU at 0.5115 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  4. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for the General Fund at 3.0486 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  5. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Law Enforcement MSTU at 0.9031 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  6. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Recreation District 1 MSTU at 0.4430 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  7. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Recreation District 4 Maintenance at 0.5277 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  8. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Road and Bridge District 1 MSTU at 0.5167 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  9. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Road and Bridge District 2 MSTU at 0.1745 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  10. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Road and Bridge District 3 MSTU at 0.2003 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  11. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU at 0.2290 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

  12. Recorded vote

    Approve final millage for TICO Airport Authority at 0.0000 - Voted yes; the record reports passed.

Approve final millage for the Brevard Library District at 0.3467

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Brevard Mosquito Control at 0.1427

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Fire Control MSTU at 0.5115

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for the General Fund at 3.0486

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Law Enforcement MSTU at 0.9031

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Recreation District 1 MSTU at 0.4430

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Recreation District 4 Maintenance at 0.5277

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Road and Bridge District 1 MSTU at 0.5167

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Road and Bridge District 2 MSTU at 0.1745

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Road and Bridge District 3 MSTU at 0.2003

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU at 0.2290

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Approve final millage for TICO Airport Authority at 0.0000

passedYes 5No 0

Voted yes

  • Pritchett
  • Goodson
  • Tobia
  • Feltner
  • Steele

Record text

No recording or transcript is held for this meeting.

Minutes textBrevard County Board of County Commissioners — Minutes

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Tuesday, September 19, 2023 5:30 PM Brevard County Board of County Commissioners 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way Viera, FL 32940 Commission Chambers Minutes Final Budget Hearing September 19, 2023 A. CALL TO ORDER 5:30 PM Commissioner District 1 Rita Pritchett, Commissioner District 2 Tom Goodson, Commissioner District 3 John Tobia, Commissioner District 4 Rob Feltner, and Commissioner District 5 Jason Steele Present: C. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commissioner Jason Steele, District 5 Commissioner Steele led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance. D.1. Announcement of the Percentage Change in the FY 2023-2024 Aggregate Tentatively Adopted Millage from the Aggregate Rolled-Back Rate Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to consider the percentage change in the FY 2023-2024 aggregate tentative adopted millage from the aggregate rolled-back rate. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Item allows for the reading of the tentative aggregate operating millage rate to fund the portion of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024 budget that is supported by property taxes; and at this time he would ask that the Budget Office read into the record the tentative aggregate millage rate for FY 2023-2024. Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated the aggregate tentative millage rate for FY 2023-2024 budget is 4.6383 mills; and this represents no change from the aggregate rolled-back millage rate of 4.6383 mills. There being no comments or objections, the Board acknowledged the announcement as read into the record that the aggregate rolled-back rate for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 is 4.6383 mills, the aggregate tentative rate is 4.6383 mills, and the percentage change is 0.00 percent, including voted millages. D.2. Public Comment: Re: Revised Tentatively Adopted County Operating and Capital Budget for FY 2023-2024 Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to accept public comments concerning the revised tentatively approved County operating and capital budget for FY 2023-2024. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Agenda Item allows for the public to comment on the County budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024; and before the Commission begins public comment he would ask that the Budget Office read into the record the FY 2023-2024 budget. Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated the FY 2023-2024 budget is $2,042,281,887; and the budget represents an increase of 52,980,951 or 2.66 more than the FY 2022-2023 current budget of $1,989,300,936. Mr. Abbate announced the Board is now ready to accept public comments on the budget for FY 2023-2024. Chair Pritchett advised she has no public comment for this Item. There being no comments or objections, the Board accepted public comments concerning the tentatively approved Operating and Capital Budget for the County’s 2023-2024 Fiscal Year, including Charter Officers and Dependent Special Districts. D.3. Public Comment, Discussion and Adoption of the Resolution Establishing Final Millages for FY 2023-2024 for Brevard County Page 1 of 34 September 19, 2023 Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing for public comment, discussion and adoption of the resolution establishing final millages for FY 2023-2024 for Brevard County. Mr. Abbate advised the Board that it is recommended that the Commissioners discuss the budget since it must adopt the millages and related budgets separately; and comments and motions concerning the individual tax levies can also be made at the time each millage is adopted. Chair Pritchett advised she has no lights and no public comment. Mr. Abbate stated this Item allows for public comment, discussion, and adoption of the final millages for FY 2023-2024; and if there are any public comments on this Item now would be the appropriate time to hear those comments. Chair Pritchett noted she has no public comment on this Item. Mr. Abbate continued by saying the Budget Office personnel will now read into the record the millage and related ad valorem revenue for each taxing authority; following the reading of each tax levy it is recommended that the Chair entertain a motion for approval of that millage. General Fund Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated for the General Fund Countywide, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 3.0486, which is a 2.45 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 2.9756, generating $186,037,616. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for the General Fund at 3.0486 generating $186,037,616. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Jason Steele Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Brevard Library District Jake Morris, Management and Budget Analyst, stated for the Brevard Library District, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.3467, which is a 1.40 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.3419, generating $21,271,551. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for the Brevard Library District at 0.3467 generating $21,271,551. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Brevard Mosquito Control Ms. Hayes stated for the Brevard Mosquito Control the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is Page 2 of 34 September 19, 2023 0.1427, which represents a 2.88 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1387, generating $8,755,265. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Brevard Mosquito Control at 0.1427 generating $8,755,265. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: Jason Steele Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Fire Control MSTU Mr. Morris stated for Fire Control MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.5115, which represents a 2.92 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.4970, generating $15,049,913. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Fire Control MSTU at 0.5115 generating $15,049,913. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: Jason Steele Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Recreation District 1 MSTU Ms. Hayes stated for the Recreation District 1 MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.4430, which represents a 1.40 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.4369, generating $3,384,457. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Recreation District 1 MSTU at 0.4430 generating $3,384,457. Result: APPROVED Mover: Tom Goodson Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Recreation District 4 Maintenance Mr. Morris stated for Recreation District 4 Maintenance the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.5277, which represents a 0.96 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.5227, generating $3,268,977. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Recreation District 4 Maintenance at 0.5277 generating $3,268,977. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Page 3 of 34 September 19, 2023 Seconder: John Tobia Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele TICO Airport Authority Ms. Hayes stated for the TICO Airport Authority the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.0000, which represents no change from the rolled-back millage of 0.0000, generating $0. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for TICO Airport Authority at 0.0000 generating $0. Result: APPROVED Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Law Enforcement MSTU Mr. Morris stated for Law Enforcement MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.9031, which represents a 2.94 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.8773, generating $24,342,951. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Law Enforcement MSTU at 0.9031 generating $24,342,951. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: Tom Goodson Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Road and Bridge District 1 MSTU Ms. Hayes stated for the Road and Bridge District 1 MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.5167, which represents a 2.97 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.5018, generating $2,554,363. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Road and Bridge District 1 MSTU at 0.5167 generating $2,554,363. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: John Tobia Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Road and Bridge District 2 MSTU Mr. Morris stated for Road and Bridge District 2 MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.1745, which represents a 2.77 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1698, generating $1,183,001. Page 4 of 34 September 19, 2023 There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Road and Bridge District 2 MSTU at 0.1745 generating $1,183,001. Result: APPROVED Mover: Tom Goodson Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Road and Bridge District 3 MSTU Ms. Hayes stated for the Road and Bridge District 3 MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.2003, which represents a 3.03 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1944, generating $569,529. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Road and Bridge District 3 MSTU at 0.2003 generating $569,529. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: John Tobia Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU Mr. Morris stated for Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.2290, which represents a 3.06 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.2222, generating $1,841,517. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU at 0.2290 generating $1,841,517. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: Jason Steele Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Road and Bridge District 5 MSTU Ms. Hayes stated for the Road and Bridge District 5 MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.3056, which represents a 2.83 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.2972, generating $669,109. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Road and Bridge District 5 MSTU at 0.3056 generating $669,109. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Page 5 of 34 September 19, 2023 Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU Beaches Mr. Morris stated for Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU Beaches the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.1948, which represents a 3.0 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1890, generating $175,847. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU Beaches at 0.1948 generating $175,847. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: John Tobia Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU Merritt Island South Ms. Hayes stated for the Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU Merritt Island South the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.1032, which represents a 3.10 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1001, generating $24,896. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Road and Bridge District 4 MSTU Merritt Island South at 0.1032 generating $24,896. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: Jason Steele Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Environmentally Endangered Lands Mr. Morris stated for Environmentally Endangered Lands the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.0488, which represents a 2.95 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.0474, generating $2,994,092. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Environmentally Endangered Lands at 0.0488 generating $2,994,092. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: Tom Goodson Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Port St. John/Canaveral Groves Recreation MSTU Ms. Hayes stated for the Port St. John/Canaveral Groves Recreation MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.2724, which represents a 1.49 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.2684, generating $576,828. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Port St. John/Canaveral Groves Recreation MSTU at 0.2724 generating $576,828. Page 6 of 34 September 19, 2023 Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: Jason Steele Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele North Brevard Recreation District Mr. Morris stated for Environmentally Endangered Lands the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.1728, which represents a 1.23 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.1707, generating $854,004. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for North Brevard Recreation District at 0.1728 generating $854,004. Result: APPROVED Mover: Rob Feltner Seconder: John Tobia Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Merritt Island Recreation MSTU Ms. Hayes stated for the Merritt Island Recreation MSTU the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.2395, which represents a 1.14 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.2368, generating $1,248,135. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Merritt Island Recreation MSTU at 0.2395 generating $1,248,135. Result: APPROVED Mover: Tom Goodson Seconder: Jason Steele Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele South Brevard Recreation District Mr. Morris stated for South Brevard Recreation District the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.2286, which represents a 1.42 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 0.2254, generating $8,245,758. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for South Brevard Recreation District at 0.2286 generating $8,245,758. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Ms. Hayes announced they are now moving into the voter approved debt millages, therefore, there are no rolled-back millages associated with these; and they will just be reading the Page 7 of 34 September 19, 2023 tentative millage and the ad valorem revenue. Chair Pritchett inquired if the Budget Office needs a vote on them. Ms. Hayes informed the Board staff will read them individually, there just will not be a rolled-back rate. Environmentally Endangered Lands Debt Service Ms. Hayes stated for Environmentally Endangered Lands debt service, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.0163, generating $1,004,156. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Environmentally Endangered Lands debt service at 0.0163, generating $1,004,156. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: John Tobia Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Port St. John/Canaveral Groves Recreation MSTU Debt Service Mr. Morris stated for Port St. John/Canaveral Groves Recreation MSTU debt service, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.0000, generating $0. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Port St. John/Canaveral Groves Recreation MSTU debt service at 0.0000, generating $0. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: Tom Goodson Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele North Brevard Recreation District Debt Service Ms. Hayes stated for the North Brevard Recreation District debt service, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.2128, generating $1,052,228. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for North Brevard Recreation District debt service at 0.2128, generating $1,052,228. Result: APPROVED Mover: Tom Goodson Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Merritt Island Recreation MSTU Debt Service Mr. Morris stated for Merritt Island Recreation MSTU debt service, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.0914, generating $476,324. Page 8 of 34 September 19, 2023 There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for Merritt Island Recreation MSTU debt service at 0.0914, generating $476,324. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele South Brevard Recreation District Debt Service Ms. Hayes stated for the South Brevard Recreation District debt service, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 0.0345, generating $1,249,854. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for South Brevard Recreation District debt service at 0.0345, generating $1,249,854. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: Tom Goodson Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Mr. Abbate announced that Budget Office will read into the record the resolution establishing the County’s final millages for FY 2023-2024; and following the reading of the resolution, it is recommended that the Chair entertain a motion for approval of the resolution. Ms. Hayes stated the aggregate millage rate for FY 2023-2024 budget is 4.6383 mills; this represents an increase of no change from the aggregate rolled-back millage rate of 4.6383. There being no comments or objections the Board approved the aggregate millage rate for FY 2023-2024 budget at 4.6383 mills representing no change from the aggregate rolled-back millage rate of 4.6383. Result: APPROVED Mover: Jason Steele Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele Ms. Hayes read aloud, “A resolution to adopt final millages pursuant to Chapter 200, Florida Statutes, authorizing the Board of County Commissioners to adopt final millages for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 and providing an effective date; the Board of County Commissioners, Brevard County, Florida, as taxing authority for the taxing entities identified in Exhibit A, which is attached hereto and made a part hereof by this reference, does hereby levy the millages specified in Exhibit A, and does hereby state the percentage by which the aggregate millage to be levied is a change from the rolled-back aggregate millage.” There being no further comments or objections, the Board accepted public comment, discussed, and adopted Resolution No. 23-101, establishing the final millages for Fiscal Year 2023-2024. Result: ADOPTED Page 9 of 34 September 19, 2023 Mover: John Tobia Seconder: Rob Feltner Ayes: Pritchett, Goodson, Tobia, Feltner, and Steele D.4. Discussion and Adoption of the County’s Final Budget Resolution for FY 2023-2024 Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated it is now time for public comment on Agenda Item D.4., Discussion and Adoption of the County’s final budget resolution; once public comment has been received the Budget Office will read into the record the resolution adopting the County’s budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024; and following that resolution and any input received from the Board, staff recommends that the Chair entertain a motion for approval of that resolution. Commissioner Tobia mentioned he has something to add before public comment; before he does that he would like to thank four individuals as well as some groups; the first one is the Public Defender, Blaise Trettis, and this idea was a brainchild of his and that is a first; secondly, he would like to thank Commissioner Steele, he was in the newspaper today, as well as on Twitter making his voice heard, so he appreciates him voicing his opinion, whether he is on his side or not; third, he wants to thank the electorate; he thinks a number of folks, including himself, certainly heard from a diverse group of people; Ms. Pam Castellano is probably the most active individual, he thinks, the head of the Democratic Party and probably communicated more with the Republican than she had ever done previously; and finally, he wants to thank Tim Bobanic, Supervisor of Elections. He noted he texted Mr. Bobanic today and he quickly responded; he wanted to make that a precursor to what he is about to say; back to Mr. Blaise Trettis, he thought he had a unique idea that turned out to be not all that unique, and even more brilliant than what he probably understood when he mentioned it; his idea, and this was mentioned to Mr. Bobanic as he wanted to give him a heads up prior to him coming up and speaking, if he decides to do that, was that sample ballots are important tools however they are redundant tools for individuals who get vote by mail ballots themselves; in fact, he thinks the Mr. Bobanic has even mentioned there are folks that receive a sample ballot after they receive their official ballot, and the idea would be to not mail sample ballots to the vote by mail voters; what he did today, real quickly, was go over the various Supervisor of Election (SOE) websites, there are 67, and he looked up what it said about sample ballots for this type of situation; and Lake County, Osceola County, Palm Beach County, Sarasota County, St. Johns County, and Volusia County, at a minimum, are the ones that stated that if an electorate received a vote by mail ballot, they would not receive a sample ballot. He mentioned these are diverse counties across the State and they represent almost 3.7 million citizens; these are small and large counties, and counties that are overwhelmingly Republican and Democratic, therefore a good cross-section; Mr. Bobanic mentioned, and he thought it was a very good point about circulation, which he will get to in just a minute; the initial part of the compromise would be to fund sample ballots, short of the vote-by-mail voters; this is not unique and he has passed out here what is readily available on the SOE websites for those mentioned, that people would not be receiving a sample ballot if they have a vote by mail ballot; and would they need to place an ad in the newspaper, absolutely, but there is still a cost savings. He continued by saying as a point of reference, the newspapers of circulation are relatively similar to that of the Florida TODAY; all are within 10 percent, short of one, being Volusia County, which is a little more than double, but the others have within two or three thousands of Florida TODAY, so it is somewhat similar; again, that would be an area of compromise; and he wants to again thank Mr. Bobanic for his willingness, the electorate, Commissioner Steele, and Mr. Blaise Trettis, whose idea this was, and was backed up because this is done all across the State of Florida. He added there would be a savings; and that is the compromise he will throw out so that a bulk of people would Page 10 of 34 September 19, 2023 get sample ballots. Chair Pritchett asked if Mr. Bobanic wanted to come up and address the Commission. Mr. Bobanic stated he would appreciate the opportunity to address Commissioner Tobia’s suggestion; he had a good conversation with Commissioner Tobia today and he appreciates him reaching out; he is always willing to hear any alternate ideas, he certainly does not think he is the know-all, be-all of everything that there is; the main problem he has with this is two-fold; first, in the 2022 general election there were over 24,000 voters who were mailed a sample ballot but voted in person; they ran a query on the database and 24,000-plus voters requested and received a mail ballot, but they chose to vote in person; Florida Law prohibits a mail ballot from being used as a sample ballot because it is a live ballot; a voter cannot walk in with their mail ballot fill it out and say they want to vote in person and take that with them because it is a live ballot and by law they are required to surrender that ballot; and that does happen sometimes and they have to literally send the voters outside and make them take a picture outside because photography is also not allowed in the polling place. He went on to day he calculated the numbers in anticipation of this and if they were to remove the mail ballot voters from the sample ballot mailing, and he agrees there are counties that do this, it would save about $70,800; according to at least the 2018 numbers on the Florida TODAY, sample ballot publishing in the newspaper, it would be $58,315, and in essence, he would be saving about $12,000; and while he certainly values every single penny of taxpayer money, he would be saving $12,000 in order to publish it in a paper that has a subscription rate of about 12,000 Sunday subscribers or reaching 150,000-plus voters who may or may not choose to vote that mail ballot and turn it in in-person. He mentioned to him is pennywise-pound foolish; he does not believe it is worth the $12,000 savings just to accomplish that; and he would respectfully request that the Board not propose this idea. Chair Pritchett stated Commissioner Feltner brought this up last time about the presidential primary with only two names on it and she thinks that is probably a good idea to just place that in the paper because if one does not know both the names by that, that would be one that she would request; she noted Mr. Bobanic is the one making the decisions, but just common sense, that one hits her a little bit. Mr. Bobanic noted he understands that; as he said in the meeting, his office could do alternate options between the two different elections, however, there is so much more information on the sample ballot than just two voters, or two or three candidates, or so forth; there is the voter identification requirement to vote, the person’s precinct and polling place is on the sample ballot, the list of early voting sites with locations and times, and a list of their administrative offices, information about secure ballot intake stations; there is far more information, especially in that election, that educates the voters beyond just the ballot itself; in that particular case, and voters have been accustomed to receiving that ballot by mail for all those years; he understands and they did budget less for that election, they only budgeted for Republicans and Democrats knowing that No Party Affiliation (NPA) voters would not be able to vote in a closed presidential primary election; and if the current President does not draw opposition and there is only a Republican primary, he would be more than happy to refund the money back to the County for that difference. Chair Pritchett noted she has one quick question; she stated Mr. Bobanic can do what he wants to do, he has all these choices, but she still has a problem with paying all of these people’s return mailings; she personally, as a citizen, struggles with that because she does not want to pay everybody’s return postage on their ballot. Page 11 of 34 September 19, 2023 Mr. Bobanic advised he understands that; he noted there were multiple reasons over the years that they implemented that; it was first implemented two years ago by Supervisor Lori Scott, and a lot of it had to do with the fact that, at the time, when the drop boxes were implemented, it was a way for voters to deposit their ballot free and they were open 24/7; then the law changed and there had to be security manning them at all times, and for the cost of having security guards manning them at all hours of the day, versus operating them on normal business hours, and giving another free option for voters to return a ballot; he did receive a number of calls on this particular topic as well and he heard mostly from the disability community; there is a reason they get a mail in ballot is because they do not have the ability to get to their polling place, they have the same restrictions getting to the post office to get postage; the other group is the elderly community, who also have the same restrictions; they either live in an assisted living facility or in an area where they do not have the ability to get to places; and he respects Chair Pritchett’s opinion on that, he just does not feel that a voter should have to pay to vote. Chair Pritchett commented she does not disagree with the things he does but he is talking about the small percentage of the section that comes back; that is just for voter education to think through that; it was implemented a few years ago because she used to work with SOE and Ms. Scott would say, “man, they did not put the postage on, but we have to pick it up anyway,” so she remembers that being a hot topic for Ms. Scott; but just so he knows, she is personally still going to struggle with that. Commissioner Steele asked Chair Pritchett if that was a motion or a suggestion by Commissioner Tobia. Chair Pritchett advised she thinks it was a suggestion. Commissioner Tobia agreed that it was a suggestion, but if there is no second and Commissioner Steele wants to go forward for the benefit of the public, he just does not want to obviously vote before hearing public comment. Chair Pritchett agreed with that. Commissioner Steele stated with that he has heard from the public and he knows what the public has to say, but he will listen to them again. Mr. Bobanic stated he appreciates Commissioner Steele giving him the opportunity to discuss this again. Commissioner Goodson asked how this works for servicemen who are overseas. Mr. Bobanic explained for servicemen who are overseas, SOE does not pay postage regardless, because the Federal Government pays for that; it is called Par avion mailing; and any military that is out of the County and overseas, military and civilians, those numbers are not included in his budget numbers because it is paid for by Federal Law. Commissioner Goodson stated he has heard so much about get a newspaper and get ballots; Sunday morning he and his wife decided to get a paper to see how easy it was going to be; they went five miles and four different 7- Elevens, now they did not go to Publix because he knew they would have them, but out of four 7-elevens in Rockledge going to Merritt Island, not one had a Sunday paper; and if what Commissioner Steele is proposing does not go through tonight, he would suggest that everyone huddle up at Publix because that is the only place one Page 12 of 34 September 19, 2023 is going to get a Sunday paper. Chair Pritchett stated just so people know she never really had a struggle with this part of it. Mr. Bobanic asked if he could make one quick comment. Chair Pritchett allowed it. Mr. Bobanic stated there are two things about the newspaper/sample ballot; first, as Commissioner Goodson pointed out, there is difficulty getting the newspaper, but the ballot that one receives in the mail is specific to the voter; it has the exact races in the exact order that he or she will see when going to the voting booth; publishing a sample ballot in a newspaper of general circulation requires his office to create a composite ballot; it is every possible race that could exist for any possible voter; they would have to go in and start with representative and congress and state this is for all voters; then they would go County Commission District 1, and explain that it is only for voters in this precinct; and County Commission District 3, and it is only for this precinct. He explained voters get a ballot, they do not necessarily know what their precinct is and what their districts are, so they will look at all of the races on the ballot; they would have seen 19 amendments, eight for Palm Bay, and all voters would have seen all eight amendments that Palm Bay had in the 2022, when only a small portion of Palm Bay actually would have voted on those; it does create questions, and they had questions when they advertised in the newspaper before the sample ballot; and by giving it specific to the voters, they know exactly what to expect when they walk in. Chair Pritchett stated just so Mr. Bobanic knows, the only thing she is looking at is dollars and she cannot help that, in her head things are green and white; and she knew this was going to be another discussion. Commissioner Feltner asked if there is something that appears like a sample ballot in the newspaper in 2024, that would not be coming from his office. Mr. Bobanic advised his office is currently not budgeted to publish in the newspaper, at least the requested budget is for mailing. Commissioner Feltner stated there was something that looked like a ballot, he is thinking of the last cycle. Mr. Bobanic mentioned yes a composite ballot is what they would put in the newspaper, it would not actually look like a real ballot. Commissioner Feltner asked if the SOE placed one in the paper during the last election cycle. Mr. Bobanic advised his office has not put one in the newspaper since before 2018. Commissioner Feltner expressed his thanks. Chair Pritchett asked what is the difference with a composite ballot. Commissioner Feltner advised Mr. Bobanic could answer that better, but it would have all the races on there, so if one is in County Commission District 1, it will have one, three, and five. Mr. Bobanic explained he cannot make a specific ballot for each individual, they have over 35 Page 13 of 34 September 19, 2023 to 40 unique styles in each given election; and he certainly could not do that in the newspaper. Chair Pritchett stated okay. Commissioner Feltner stated just to clarify, in the general election obviously there is the referendums; some of them could be unique to different districts and cities also, and he would have to place all of those in there. Mr. Bobanic responded affirmatively, stating that would have been seen in the last election. Chair Pritchett inquired who prints the sample ballots, or if they are printed in-house. Mr. Bobanic advised they are printed locally with a vendor in Brevard County. Chair Pritchett asked if the SOE does any printing in-house. Mr. Bobanic answered by saying they do some printing in-house; they print the daily mail ballot runs, the initial mass mail run is printed out by an outside vendor because it is such a large volume; however, they do print all of the daily runs. He explained if they get 2,000 or 3,000 request each day after the initial mail goes out, they print all of those in-house. Chair Pritchett asked, for an actual ballot. Mr. Bobanic responded yes, for an actual ballot, they print those ballots in-house; he stated obviously, the election-day ballots they use an out-sourced vendor because they print mass volumes of those and have them padded, shrink-wrapped, and organized so they have a specialty vendor that does that. He mentioned he does not know of any counties, other than the largest counties, that can afford the equipment that would be required to print all of the materials in-house. Commissioner Feltner stated just to clarify on early voting, those are printed on the fly. Mr. Bobanic responded those are printed on demand; his office has on-demand ballot printers; and that is how early voting has always been. He added because a person can go to any early voting site, he would have no idea who is going to go to what site, so when a person checks in, it prints that person’s unique ballot style on demand right next to the check-in station; and they are handed to the voter. Commissioner Steele stated he does not know if the lovely people that are there would really like to speak, perhaps the Board could give a motion to see what the motion is, and that way the people in attendance could still speak if they would like to, but he thinks he knows where this is going to go. Chair Pritchett stated she thinks she still wants to go ahead and go through public comment real quick just in case it does not go the right way; and she thinks that is just smarter right now. Mr. Bobanic commented he thinks the public would love to speak. Chair Pritchett agreed. Helen Voltz stated first she would like to thank the Board for going through all of this; she knows, she has been in the Board Member’s shoes and it is a tough decision to have to go Page 14 of 34 September 19, 2023 through; she thanked Commissioner Tobia for another thought on this entire process; she appreciates the Board for what it does because she knows how hard it is when sitting up there with a room full of people, either for or against whatever it is that the Board is doing; and she thanked the Board again, advising that she supports Mr. Bobanic’s budget for the education of the voters and what they need to know, because she was one of those. She mentioned she has always been one for absentee ballots; last year was the first year she had taken hers in with her to vote in-person; and she has always been working on campaigns of some sort, so she has always been so busy and did not have time to get over there to vote in-person. Sandra Sullivan expressed her appreciation to the Board for bringing this back for consideration and listening to the will of the people; she stated she was feeling very discouraged lately, it seemingly was that the will of the people was not being heard by the Board; she stated she hopes the vote today reflects the will of the people; as a volunteer, as a poll watcher, she has seen people come in with their live ballots and they have to be destroyed; she knows that there are so many referendums that are very difficult to understand; and she sees, just in her circle, people have conversations and they use the sample ballot to talk with their neighbors, friends, and political groups to see how they should vote, because frankly, the language is so confusing many times. Judy England stated she is nervous and is not a public speaker, so she is hoping God gives her the right words to say; she really appreciates Commissioner Feltner and Goodson’s vote from before; she really appreciates what Commissioner Steele has done today; she knows the Board is concerned, but Brevard County has a nationally recognized Supervisor of Elections Office; Brevard County’s elections are smooth; she takes her ballot, because she is old and when she gets in there she gets confused, she takes her ballot and marks it; she is in and out, people are not waiting on her; and she is glad the Board is considering the public tonight. She thanked the Board again, and stated God bless everyone. Marcie Adkins stated she likes Commissioner Tobia’s idea, but then she thought about it, being a poll worker herself, and seeing people come in with the live ballots and wanting to use that to vote from, so she thinks that is a problem; she loves her sample ballot; and she would appreciate having them for everyone. Theo Adkins stated he thinks the Board has already satisfied him; he wants sample ballots; he uses them; and most of the people he knows that vote, especially the retired ones, use them. Eileen Sepp stated she loves the sample ballots because prior to them being issued, she used to spend so much time trying to find who was who and what everything was about; her last ballot was four pages, and if she had not had that with her it probably would have taken her an hour to cast her votes in Palm Bay; she mentioned she also has one issue with the postage for people who do the mail in ballots, and that is, to her it seems as though the County is charging people to vote; the cost for a citizen to put postage on that is far less than it will be for a government permitted bulk mail; and she does not think that is fair because she does not even use stamps, she pays everything online. She went on to say as far as the sample ballots go, if she does not get one, then she has to vote by mail, otherwise, she is going to spend an inordinate amount of time in that ballot box. John Hearton stated he wanted to thank Chair Pritchett for being a numbers person; he was researching this a little bit and saw that Massachusettes Institute of Technology (MIT) had basically an average of about 30 percent increase on Presidential election years, versus the 19 percent that he thinks Mr. Bobanic was asking for; it seems like he is doing his job and trying to Page 15 of 34 September 19, 2023 save taxpayer money; secondly, as far as support to the sample ballots and the postage, they are in a situation where a lot of people do not necessarily have the opportunity to get out, there is an elderly population here, some in independent living and care facilities that need to have the opportunity to be able to do some research, take a look at who the people are that are going for the positions, and who is going to represent them; and not having that opportunity in time to research it becomes an issue. He added, obviously, if there is a situation where there is a charge for postage on top of that, it is yet another thing being asked of the seniors to do and trying to get out to the postal service to make sure they have enough stamps and so forth to address the problem; that is his two cents; and he is in favor of the sample ballots as well as the postage. Diane Locklair stated she is one of those people who receive a mail-in ballot and then bring it to the polls on election day and surrender it because she does not trust the elections any longer, since 2020, and even before then; she saw things that she had never seen before; she has been voting since she was legally allowed to; she has been in this area her life, minus 10 years; she has been a poll watcher the last three election cycles; and she has observed people bring their sample ballots to the poll and when they get to their private space with their ballot they pull it out and use it to transpose onto the actual ballot, and she does the same. She mentioned she uses that as a research beginning, to talk to her sister, brother, her other relatives, her friends, and her groups; she takes care of a lot of elders in her family and they have the wits and the ability to vote but they do not have the means for internet, online, go to the store, or any of that stuff; this puts disability people and elders in a terrible disadvantage and it sends the wrong message with all this election integrity concern going rampant in this country; and she thinks this is the wrong time to be cutting something that has been a long established and very well appreciated help. Pamela Castellana stated she is going to be in agreement with the whole room but her party’s voice is going to be heard too; she thanked the Board for acknowledging the voice of the voters; she stated she actually communicates with Republicans a lot; she is the chair of the Democrats, but when it comes to voter education, like a lot of issues in this County, it is all partisan; and in an era when people are urging more civic education in schools in the hopes of encouraging more civic engagement and better educated voters, she asked why one would even consider taking away the money required to provide the simplest, free, voter educational tools for the voters. Connie Smith stated she is there to respectfully ask Commissioners Pritchett, Steele, and Tobia to reconsider their votes to cut the $318,223 from the SOE budget; this request is about making sure voters have as much information as possible to make informed decisions when they fill out their ballots; she knows everyone says this, but this next election may be the most critical election of people’s lifetime; and she asked the Board to please not take away discretionary money form the SOE Office that covers the mailing of sample ballots and vote-by-mail return postage. She continued by saying people know that every four years there are Federal elections, so there are more elections to cover; it makes sense that the SOE budget would increase every four years, then drop back after the Federal election cycle; it is also her understanding that Brevard County has extensive commercial and residential construction projects that have been completed in the County, adding billions of dollars to the tax rolls; therefore, there is money to fund the SOE. She noted it is also her understanding that there are, in the proposed budget, seven new renovated fire stations; and she can go through the list of the proposed budget but everyone is getting a tax rate reducation for the property tax if it is passed, which is wonderful. Vicki Impoco stated she is there to add her voice to the growing chorus of Brevard County Page 16 of 34 September 19, 2023 citizens in support of SOE, Tim Bobanic’s proposed budget; the Commissioner’s 3:2 vote to cut funding from the SOE Office to mail out sample ballots and provide paid postage is a disservice to the Board’s constituents; her husband and herself rely on the sample ballots to research not only the candidates, but any municipal, County, and State-wide amendments that they are unfamiliar with; and filling out the sample ballots and taking them with them to the polls streamlines the process and ensures they are informed voters. She noted 32.9 percent of Brevard County voters voted by mail in the 2022 general election; all of these voters benefited from the election’s office providing paid postage for the return of their ballots; Commissioner Steele stated that if voters want the convenience of voting by mail and value their vote, they can stick a stamp on the ballot envelope before mailing it in; and she strongly disagrees, paid postage helps many seniors who are no longer able to go to a post office to obtain stamps, to return their ballots, as well as those in the community who are disabled or have health issues. She added Florida Statute 101.62 additionally has limits on who can help a voter return their vote-by-mail ballots; a voter’s ability to reach a post office should not be a determining factor on their ability to cast a vote in their preferred method; she would like to thank her Commissioner, Rob Feltner and Vice-chair Tom Goodson for the votes; and she sincerely hopes that Chair Rita Pritchett and Commissioner Steele reverse their votes to fully fund the SOE. Clarence Whipple, Jr. stated he is in support of maintaining the finances for the SOE; he asked the Board to please do what is right for the citizens in this community and provide them the opportunity to be prepared when they come to vote; he went on to say sending the sample ballots is the right thing to do; he sent Chair Pritchett some communications, he does not know if she received it or not, but he can hopefully do it here in the matter of one minute and 15 seconds; and he read, “This communication is to request that your vote to maintain the revenue needed to continue the practice of mailing sample ballots to your constituents and all qualified voters is a must. The budget for the SOE makes more sense to fund than to defund. We ask that on behalf of the citizens of this community, that you maintain those funds. Please consider this request as one that supports all citizens of the community. Funding the issue has more advantage for all people, than disadvantage for a chosen few.” He thanked the Board for reconsidering the issue and stated hopefully, the Board can vote to give the people’s desire. Diana Schommer stated she is a member of the Election Integrity Committee of Brevard Republican Executive Committee (BREC); this is all really very simple, she just wants her sample ballot; she uses it, she does research with it, and she has a group of people who always come to her because they know she puts a lot of time into the amendments and the individuals; she wants to be prepared for them, not just to tell them to vote for something, but why to vote for something or why to vote against something and what her research shows; she really uses that sample ballot to a great degree; and she counts on it. She continued on to say she is immensely happy with Commissioner Steele; she is very glad to see that he understands the older people; the $318,223 is out of a $2.04 billion budget and is only .016 percent of the budget and yet it will negatively impact every voter in the County; it really is an issue of importance for all of the voters; it really needs to happen; she feels like the other things she was going to say, she is going to leave out, because she is going to be nicer, and this sounds like it is going to turn out happy; and she hopes it does. Jack Ratterman stated he is a retired U.S. History teacher so voting is one of his top concerns, now and forever; voting has moved forward over the years gradually expanding towards universal franchise; the right to vote to be forwarded to all for democracy; now, some on this Board want to single out certain groups, the old, people with transportation issues, neighbors with health issues, diabetics, those scared of Covid, and when one goes to a restaurant and see a veteran and say thanks for your service, this is not saying that in real geniality, because it is not going to send him a ballot; Helen Keller was deaf, blind and born in 1880, and connected Page 17 of 34 September 19, 2023 with Anne Sullivan and learned to read and write; and she graduated from Radcliffe in 1904 and joined the women’s suffrage movement. He went on to say she was undoubtedly the most famous woman on the planet; she joined the suffrage movement to march to Washington D.C. in 1913; she was going to speak, but she was so exhausted that she could not; and she had the capacity to realize how voting was so important to her. He noted the people on this Board have all their faculties so he hopes that they will come to the same conclusion as Helen Keller did so long ago. Elizabeth Michelman stated she sent out emails, made phone calls, and is part of the noise in the background; she hopes the Board respects the fact that people are standing up and saying this is really critical; she hopes at least four of the five decide to support; the Board has heard everything so far, so she will be short; and she expressed her appreciation. Cynthia Olsen stated she is present today to ask the Board to please restore the funding for the SOE so the voters can get their sample ballots and prepaid postage as requested; by cutting the funding of the sample ballots, the Board will be creating huge bottlenecks in the voting booths, as voters look at the ballots for the first time; the extra-long lines and wait times will discourage many voters from even voting at all, they will go home and not vote; elections are critical to the success of Brevard County because those who vote choose the leaders; and people want smooth elections so that everyone who wants to vote can get their vote counted. Wade Olsen stated Florida’s election processes have proven themselves to be the best in the nation and the sample ballots are an integral part of that; he would ask why anyone would want to diminish that level of success, especially for an upcoming Presidential election; if anyone suggests using cell phones to view a sample ballot and download it from the website, go ahead and try it to see how difficult that is; and he watched the video on September 5 and was a little concerned about some of the things that were brought up. He noted it seemed quite obvious to him that campaigning was going on; he does not think this is the proper forum for that; he knows there are people vying for certain positions going forward; and he is a little concerned about the comments that were made, that he felt were quite petty. He reiterated he does not think this is the correct forum for that. Tatiana Rosado stated she is representing the Space Coast Chapter of the League of Women’s Voters; it is a national nonpartisan political organization that advocates for voting rights and voting education; she is there to voice the opposition of defunding the SOE for sending sample ballots and providing return postage mail-in ballots; Brevard County voters live very busy lives and mainly rely on the mailing of sample ballots to alert them of upcoming elections and what to be noticed on their ballots; not providing Brevard County voters the opportunity to review their ballots or research their choices leaves them susceptible to being told how to vote by partisan organizations that set up tents outside of polling locations; and to the voters who cannot make it to the polls due to illnesses, disabilities, business travel, or personal travel should not have to pay to vote. She added she would strongly encourage the Board to re-instate the SOE funding in the 2023-2024 budget. Sam Coodley stated he is in attendance on behalf of All Voting is Local Action; it is a nonpartisan State-wide organization that works on advocacy for best practices with SOE offices; they are encouraged to hear some of the reconsideration that has happened about the full funding of the budget; much has already been said about why sample ballots are so important, not only for folks that make those informed choices on who those local candidates are but also those informed choices about those often very complicated constitutional amendments that they will also have to vote for; likewise, they feel that this practice especially disenfranchises those who do not like to vote by mail, as it is likely to create longer lines for Page 18 of 34 September 19, 2023 in-person, voting; and of course, people know that paid postage should be fully funded and is something that will ensure that those who are no longer able to go in person for whatever reason, have that access, but also those who do elect to push through whatever struggles they might have with going in person, would be that much more likely to be disenfranchised by having arbitrarily long lines that are unnecessary. He continued to say due to the legislature people know that someone may no longer turn in more than one ballot by mail and likewise those limitations should be considered as one more reason why paid postage is there, likewise funding; not only those who cannot afford the stamp but those who otherwise may put one stamp on four ballots, people know those will all be thrown out; and that is one more reason why people are less likely to have their vote disenfranchised if paid postage is also fully there. Richard Nink stated he is the Chair of the BREC Election Integrity Committee, as appointed by Chairman Rick Lacey; he lives and breathes election integrity; Commissioner Jason Steele made a difference tonight and he expressed his appreciation; he thanked the Board for being open to changing its position and listening to the residents and the voters; he went on to thank Commissioners Goodson and Feltner for maintaining their position; and he expressed his appreciation to Commission Tobia for acknowledging the value in sample ballots and working with the rest of the Commissioners. He stated they view this potential cut that was previously proposed by the County Commission as a major election integrity issue because anything that can go wrong at the polling place results in long lines; those long lines will frustrate voters and frustrated voters go home and do not vote; that is the last thing anyone wants to see; and definitely the last thing people want to see is this County Commission make a mistake on and to allow that to happen under their watch. Wynell Bradley-Craig stated she supports funding the SOE office; everybody has given the reasons already; and she hopes the Board will too. Gail Stewart-Iles, Ph.D. stated she is speaking on behalf of a couple of her friends who could not be in attendance due to having a stroke and having mobility issues; it would be very difficult for her to get to the polls, so she needs the mail-in ballot; if there is no postage, which she understands is a concern, but the postage means someone is going to have to go to the post office, therefore, have to wait in a line and if someone has mobility issues that can be quite awkward; another friend of hers is a traveling nurse; it has already been talked about how complicated the composite ballot would be and if one were a traveling nurse he or she could not get to Publix to get the Sunday paper; it is going to require an incredible amount of homework, which she does not have time for, although she would do it, to straighten out what she needs to be concerned about in her particular precinct, which is District 1; and on behalf of those people, there needs to be a sample ballot. She added if money could be found for the postage, she understands constraints, but it would definitely help; and waiting at the polls, waiting at the post office is kind of hard. Wayne Twiddy stated he wants to bring up the issue with first class postage; it is important to have the first class postage because the ballot gets sent out, and ballots should be handled like currency, ballots are very important and a lot of things can happen, if it is undeliverable and it is not first class, it might be forwarded to another address; a first class undeliverable ballot will come back to the SOE and that is where people want it to go; there is a problem with vote-by-mail with regard to chain of custody; when that elector makes that vote and sends that ballot back to the SOE Office, he needs to make sure that there is chain of custody on that ballot; with first class that is not going give chain of custody; and there are people working with the legislators right now to ensure there is chain of custody, somehow, some way through the United States Postal Service. He mentioned the last point is that there are people thanking the Board for the vote, but the vote has not been made yet, so he would implore this Board to pass Page 19 of 34 September 19, 2023 this; and those sample ballots need to go out and there needs to be first class postage as well. Richard Webb stated he has never seen a Democrat, Republican, conservative and liberal all fighting in the same direction; he expressed his appreciation to Commissioner Steele for announcing he was going to change his vote; he mentioned the Tobia changes to the budget are just not a good idea; they have been working with Mr. Bobanic; he has done a good job convincing people that their vote is more and more secure all the time; he has reduced the cost per voter; the budget that he has fluctuates by the number of votes that have to be tallied each year, he believes the County ought to be fully funding these sample ballots; and if the Board feels it has to have more money for the Fire Department, he would suggest that is stop sending fire engines to the chest pain calls, add one more person to the rescue truck and Brevard could do what the City of Hialeah did, they maintained their A rating and improved response time. He went on to say Chief Paul DeYoung is the guy to talk to; and it just kills him every time he sees a chest pain person, particularly at the nursing homes, with a rescue truck and a then a fire vehicle. Chair Pritchett commented she does not know if Commissioner Steele will have the votes; she thanked the audience stating they have been a great, mature, and kind crowd speaking their part and allowing others to have their opinions; when there is good communication, even if they are not in agreement, it is a very good free nation that everyone lives in; and she knows no matter where this goes Mr. Bobanic knows she thinks he is a great guy. Mr. Bobanic stated he appreciates that; they worked very well together on the Canvassing Board; and he hopes they continue to do so. Chair Pritchett advised she does not know where the rest of the Commissioners are; she probably did not have as much of a struggle over the sample ballots, but she knew there needed to be work on the budget; she would ask him to wait to buy the automobile to a non-presidential year, it would help a little bit; and she knows people are talking about they should not have to pay for their votes but he is not going to reimburse her for the gas to get there and vote in person. She does not know if the arguments are really good; that just kind of started; that was something, that even when the SOE did start it, she was not fond of; for the conservative in her that is probably more of a struggle to her; those are her main two items; she wanted to mention that to him; and he is free to comment on that if he would like. Mr. Bobanic asked just for clarity what Chair Pritchett is saying is if he would eliminate the one vehicle he has budgeted, then she would be in favor of the mail-in ballot postage. Chair Pritchett reiterated if he would just wait for a non-election year to do that when he is not having to have so much money. Mr. Boba

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  • Agenda item E.1.Other meeting itemsapproved - The Board adopted Resolution No. 23-120, proclaiming to recognize October 10, 2023, as the 112th National Day of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

    Proclamation recognizing October 10, 2023 as the 112th National Day of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

  • Agenda item D.1.Budget and financeapproved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to consider the percentage change in the FY 2023-2024 aggregate tentative adopted millage from the aggregate rolled-back rate. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Item allows for the reading of the tentative aggregate operating millage rate to fund the portion of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024 budget that is supported by property taxes; and at this time he would ask that the Budget Office read into the record the tentative aggregate millage rate for FY 2023-2024. Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated the aggregate tentative millage rate for FY 2023-2024 budget is 4.6383 mills; and this represents no change from the aggregate rolled-back millage rate of 4.6383 mills. There being no comments or objections, the Board acknowledged the announcement as read into the record that the aggregate rolled-back rate for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 is 4.6383 mills, the aggregate tentative rate is 4.6383 mills, and the percentage change is 0.00 percent, including voted millages.

    Announcement of the Percentage Change in the FY 2023-2024 Aggregate Tentatively Adopted Millage from the Aggregate Rolled-Back Rate

  • Agenda item D.2.Budget and financeapproved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to accept public comments concerning the revised tentatively approved County operating and capital budget for FY 2023-2024. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Agenda Item allows for the public to comment on the County budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024; and before the Commission begins public comment he would ask that the Budget Office read into the record the FY 2023-2024 budget. Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated the FY 2023-2024 budget is $2,042,281,887; and the budget represents an increase of 52,980,951 or 2.66 more than the FY 2022-2023 current budget of $1,989,300,936. Mr. Abbate announced the Board is now ready to accept public comments on the budget for FY 2023-2024. Chair Pritchett advised she has no public comment for this Item. There being no comments or objections, the Board accepted public comments concerning the tentatively approved Operating and Capital Budget for the County’s 2023-2024 Fiscal Year, including Charter Officers and Dependent Special Districts.

    Public Comment: Re: Revised Tentatively Adopted County Operating and Capital Budget for FY 2023-2024

    $2,042,281,887

  • Agenda item D.3.Budget and financeapproved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing for public comment, discussion and adoption of the resolution establishing final millages for FY 2023-2024 for Brevard County. Mr. Abbate advised the Board that it is recommended that the Commissioners discuss the budget since it must adopt the millages and related budgets separately; and comments and motions concerning the individual tax levies can also be made at the time each millage is adopted. Chair Pritchett advised she has no lights and no public comment. Mr. Abbate stated this Item allows for public comment, discussion, and adoption of the final millages for FY 2023-2024; and if there are any public comments on this Item now would be the appropriate time to hear those comments. Chair Pritchett noted she has no public comment on this Item. Mr. Abbate continued by saying the Budget Office personnel will now read into the record the millage and related ad valorem revenue for each taxing authority; following the reading of each tax levy it is recommended that the Chair entertain a motion for approval of that millage. General Fund Jill Hayes, Budget Office Director, stated for the General Fund Countywide, the FY 2023-2024 tentative millage is 3.0486, which is a 2.45 percent change from the rolled-back millage of 2.9756, generating $186,037,616. There being no comments, the Board approved the final millage for the General Fund at 3.0486 generating $186,037,616.

    Public Comment, Discussion and Adoption of the Resolution Establishing Final Millages for FY 2023-2024 for Brevard County

    $186,037,616

  • Agenda item D.4.Budget and financeapproved - Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated it is now time for public comment on Agenda Item D.4., Discussion and Adoption of the County’s final budget resolution; once public comment has been received the Budget Office will read into the record the resolution adopting the County’s budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024; and following that resolution and any input received from the Board, staff recommends that the Chair entertain a motion for approval of that resolution. Commissioner Tobia mentioned he has something to add before public comment; before he does that he would like to thank four individuals as well as some groups; the first one is the Public Defender, Blaise Trettis, and this idea was a brainchild of his and that is a first; secondly, he would like to thank Commissioner Steele, he was in the newspaper today, as well as on Twitter making his voice heard, so he appreciates him voicing his opinion, whether he is on his side or not; third, he wants to thank the electorate; he thinks a number of folks, including himself, certainly heard from a diverse group of people; Ms. Pam Castellano is probably the most active individual, he thinks, the head of the Democratic Party and probably communicated more with the Republican than she had ever done previously; and finally, he wants to thank Tim Bobanic, Supervisor of Elections. He noted he texted Mr. Bobanic today and he quickly responded; he wanted to make that a precursor to what he is about to say; back to Mr. Blaise Trettis, he thought he had a unique idea that turned out to be not all that unique, and even more brilliant than what he probably understood when he mentioned it; his idea, and this was mentioned to Mr. Bobanic as he wanted to give him a heads up prior to him coming up and speaking, if he decides to do that, was that sample ballots are important tools however they are redundant tools for individuals who get vote by mail ballots themselves; in fact, he thinks the Mr. Bobanic has even mentioned there are folks that receive a sample ballot after they receive their official ballot, and the idea would be to not mail sample ballots to the vote by mail voters; what he did today, real quickly, was go over the various Supervisor of Election (SOE) websites, there are 67, and he looked up what it said about sample ballots for this type of situation; and Lake County, Osceola County, Palm Beach County, Sarasota County, St. Johns County, and Volusia County, at a minimum, are the ones that stated that if an electorate received a vote by mail ballot, they would not receive a sample ballot. He mentioned these are diverse counties across the State and they represent almost 3.7 million citizens; these are small and large counties, and counties that are overwhelmingly Republican and Democratic, therefore a good cross-section; Mr. Bobanic mentioned, and he thought it was a very good point about circulation, which he will get to in just a minute; the initial part of the compromise would be to fund sample ballots, short of the vote-by-mail voters; this is not unique and he has passed out here what is readily available on the SOE websites for those mentioned, that people would not be receiving a sample ballot if they have a vote by mail ballot; and would they need to place an ad in the newspaper, absolutely, but there is still a cost savings. He continued by saying as a point of reference, the newspapers of circulation are relatively similar to that of the Florida TODAY; all are within 10 percent, short of one, being Volusia County, which is a little more than double, but the others have within two or three thousands of Florida TODAY, so it is somewhat similar; again, that would be an area of compromise; and he wants to again thank Mr. Bobanic for his willingness, the electorate, Commissioner Steele, and Mr. Blaise Trettis, whose idea this was, and was backed up because this is done all across the State of Florida. He added there would be a savings; and that is the compromise he will throw out so that a bulk of people would get sample ballots. Chair Pritchett asked if Mr. Bobanic wanted to come up and address the Commission. Mr. Bobanic stated he would appreciate the opportunity to address Commissioner Tobia’s suggestion; he had a good conversation with Commissioner Tobia today and he appreciates him reaching out; he is always willing to hear any alternate ideas, he certainly does not think he is the know-all, be-all of everything that there is; the main problem he has with this is two-fold; first, in the 2022 general election there were over 24,000 voters who were mailed a sample ballot but voted in person; they ran a query on the database and 24,000-plus voters requested and received a mail ballot, but they chose to vote in person; Florida Law prohibits a mail ballot from being used as a sample ballot because it is a live ballot; a voter cannot walk in with their mail ballot fill it out and say they want to vote in person and take that with them because it is a live ballot and by law they are required to surrender that ballot; and that does happen sometimes and they have to literally send the voters outside and make them take a picture outside because photography is also not allowed in the polling place. He went on to day he calculated the numbers in anticipation of this and if they were to remove the mail ballot voters from the sample ballot mailing, and he agrees there are counties that do this, it would save about $70,800; according to at least the 2018 numbers on the Florida TODAY, sample ballot publishing in the newspaper, it would be $58,315, and in essence, he would be saving about $12,000; and while he certainly values every single penny of taxpayer money, he would be saving $12,000 in order to publish it in a paper that has a subscription rate of about 12,000 Sunday subscribers or reaching 150,000-plus voters who may or may not choose to vote that mail ballot and turn it in in-person. He mentioned to him is pennywise-pound foolish; he does not believe it is worth the $12,000 savings just to accomplish that; and he would respectfully request that the Board not propose this idea. Chair Pritchett stated Commissioner Feltner brought this up last time about the presidential primary with only two names on it and she thinks that is probably a good idea to just place that in the paper because if one does not know both the names by that, that would be one that she would request; she noted Mr. Bobanic is the one making the decisions, but just common sense, that one hits her a little bit. Mr. Bobanic noted he understands that; as he said in the meeting, his office could do alternate options between the two different elections, however, there is so much more information on the sample ballot than just two voters, or two or three candidates, or so forth; there is the voter identification requirement to vote, the person’s precinct and polling place is on the sample ballot, the list of early voting sites with locations and times, and a list of their administrative offices, information about secure ballot intake stations; there is far more information, especially in that election, that educates the voters beyond just the ballot itself; in that particular case, and voters have been accustomed to receiving that ballot by mail for all those years; he understands and they did budget less for that election, they only budgeted for Republicans and Democrats knowing that No Party Affiliation (NPA) voters would not be able to vote in a closed presidential primary election; and if the current President does not draw opposition and there is only a Republican primary, he would be more than happy to refund the money back to the County for that difference. Chair Pritchett noted she has one quick question; she stated Mr. Bobanic can do what he wants to do, he has all these choices, but she still has a problem with paying all of these people’s return mailings; she personally, as a citizen, struggles with that because she does not want to pay everybody’s return postage on their ballot. Mr. Bobanic advised he understands that; he noted there were multiple reasons over the years that they implemented that; it was first implemented two years ago by Supervisor Lori Scott, and a lot of it had to do with the fact that, at the time, when the drop boxes were implemented, it was a way for voters to deposit their ballot free and they were open 24/7; then the law changed and there had to be security manning them at all times, and for the cost of having security guards manning them at all hours of the day, versus operating them on normal business hours, and giving another free option for voters to return a ballot; he did receive a number of calls on this particular topic as well and he heard mostly from the disability community; there is a reason they get a mail in ballot is because they do not have the ability to get to their polling place, they have the same restrictions getting to the post office to get postage; the other group is the elderly community, who also have the same restrictions; they either live in an assisted living facility or in an area where they do not have the ability to get to places; and he respects Chair Pritchett’s opinion on that, he just does not feel that a voter should have to pay to vote. Chair Pritchett commented she does not disagree with the things he does but he is talking about the small percentage of the section that comes back; that is just for voter education to think through that; it was implemented a few years ago because she used to work with SOE and Ms. Scott would say, “man, they did not put the postage on, but we have to pick it up anyway,” so she remembers that being a hot topic for Ms. Scott; but just so he knows, she is personally still going to struggle with that. Commissioner Steele asked Chair Pritchett if that was a motion or a suggestion by Commissioner Tobia. Chair Pritchett advised she thinks it was a suggestion. Commissioner Tobia agreed that it was a suggestion, but if there is no second and Commissioner Steele wants to go forward for the benefit of the public, he just does not want to obviously vote before hearing public comment. Chair Pritchett agreed with that. Commissioner Steele stated with that he has heard from the public and he knows what the public has to say, but he will listen to them again. Mr. Bobanic stated he appreciates Commissioner Steele giving him the opportunity to discuss this again. Commissioner Goodson asked how this works for servicemen who are overseas. Mr. Bobanic explained for servicemen who are overseas, SOE does not pay postage regardless, because the Federal Government pays for that; it is called Par avion mailing; and any military that is out of the County and overseas, military and civilians, those numbers are not included in his budget numbers because it is paid for by Federal Law. Commissioner Goodson stated he has heard so much about get a newspaper and get ballots; Sunday morning he and his wife decided to get a paper to see how easy it was going to be; they went five miles and four different 7- Elevens, now they did not go to Publix because he knew they would have them, but out of four 7-elevens in Rockledge going to Merritt Island, not one had a Sunday paper; and if what Commissioner Steele is proposing does not go through tonight, he would suggest that everyone huddle up at Publix because that is the only place one is going to get a Sunday paper. Chair Pritchett stated just so people know she never really had a struggle with this part of it. Mr. Bobanic asked if he could make one quick comment. Chair Pritchett allowed it. Mr. Bobanic stated there are two things about the newspaper/sample ballot; first, as Commissioner Goodson pointed out, there is difficulty getting the newspaper, but the ballot that one receives in the mail is specific to the voter; it has the exact races in the exact order that he or she will see when going to the voting booth; publishing a sample ballot in a newspaper of general circulation requires his office to create a composite ballot; it is every possible race that could exist for any possible voter; they would have to go in and start with representative and congress and state this is for all voters; then they would go County Commission District 1, and explain that it is only for voters in this precinct; and County Commission District 3, and it is only for this precinct. He explained voters get a ballot, they do not necessarily know what their precinct is and what their districts are, so they will look at all of the races on the ballot; they would have seen 19 amendments, eight for Palm Bay, and all voters would have seen all eight amendments that Palm Bay had in the 2022, when only a small portion of Palm Bay actually would have voted on those; it does create questions, and they had questions when they advertised in the newspaper before the sample ballot; and by giving it specific to the voters, they know exactly what to expect when they walk in. Chair Pritchett stated just so Mr. Bobanic knows, the only thing she is looking at is dollars and she cannot help that, in her head things are green and white; and she knew this was going to be another discussion. Commissioner Feltner asked if there is something that appears like a sample ballot in the newspaper in 2024, that would not be coming from his office. Mr. Bobanic advised his office is currently not budgeted to publish in the newspaper, at least the requested budget is for mailing. Commissioner Feltner stated there was something that looked like a ballot, he is thinking of the last cycle. Mr. Bobanic mentioned yes a composite ballot is what they would put in the newspaper, it would not actually look like a real ballot. Commissioner Feltner asked if the SOE placed one in the paper during the last election cycle. Mr. Bobanic advised his office has not put one in the newspaper since before 2018. Commissioner Feltner expressed his thanks. Chair Pritchett asked what is the difference with a composite ballot. Commissioner Feltner advised Mr. Bobanic could answer that better, but it would have all the races on there, so if one is in County Commission District 1, it will have one, three, and five. Mr. Bobanic explained he cannot make a specific ballot for each individual, they have over 35 to 40 unique styles in each given election; and he certainly could not do that in the newspaper. Chair Pritchett stated okay. Commissioner Feltner stated just to clarify, in the general election obviously there is the referendums; some of them could be unique to different districts and cities also, and he would have to place all of those in there. Mr. Bobanic responded affirmatively, stating that would have been seen in the last election. Chair Pritchett inquired who prints the sample ballots, or if they are printed in-house. Mr. Bobanic advised they are printed locally with a vendor in Brevard County. Chair Pritchett asked if the SOE does any printing in-house. Mr. Bobanic answered by saying they do some printing in-house; they print the daily mail ballot runs, the initial mass mail run is printed out by an outside vendor because it is such a large volume; however, they do print all of the daily runs. He explained if they get 2,000 or 3,000 request each day after the initial mail goes out, they print all of those in-house. Chair Pritchett asked, for an actual ballot. Mr. Bobanic responded yes, for an actual ballot, they print those ballots in-house; he stated obviously, the election-day ballots they use an out-sourced vendor because they print mass volumes of those and have them padded, shrink-wrapped, and organized so they have a specialty vendor that does that. He mentioned he does not know of any counties, other than the largest counties, that can afford the equipment that would be required to print all of the materials in-house. Commissioner Feltner stated just to clarify on early voting, those are printed on the fly. Mr. Bobanic responded those are printed on demand; his office has on-demand ballot printers; and that is how early voting has always been. He added because a person can go to any early voting site, he would have no idea who is going to go to what site, so when a person checks in, it prints that person’s unique ballot style on demand right next to the check-in station; and they are handed to the voter. Commissioner Steele stated he does not know if the lovely people that are there would really like to speak, perhaps the Board could give a motion to see what the motion is, and that way the people in attendance could still speak if they would like to, but he thinks he knows where this is going to go. Chair Pritchett stated she thinks she still wants to go ahead and go through public comment real quick just in case it does not go the right way; and she thinks that is just smarter right now. Mr. Bobanic commented he thinks the public would love to speak. Chair Pritchett agreed. Helen Voltz stated first she would like to thank the Board for going through all of this; she knows, she has been in the Board Member’s shoes and it is a tough decision to have to go through; she thanked Commissioner Tobia for another thought on this entire process; she appreciates the Board for what it does because she knows how hard it is when sitting up there with a room full of people, either for or against whatever it is that the Board is doing; and she thanked the Board again, advising that she supports Mr. Bobanic’s budget for the education of the voters and what they need to know, because she was one of those. She mentioned she has always been one for absentee ballots; last year was the first year she had taken hers in with her to vote in-person; and she has always been working on campaigns of some sort, so she has always been so busy and did not have time to get over there to vote in-person. Sandra Sullivan expressed her appreciation to the Board for bringing this back for consideration and listening to the will of the people; she stated she was feeling very discouraged lately, it seemingly was that the will of the people was not being heard by the Board; she stated she hopes the vote today reflects the will of the people; as a volunteer, as a poll watcher, she has seen people come in with their live ballots and they have to be destroyed; she knows that there are so many referendums that are very difficult to understand; and she sees, just in her circle, people have conversations and they use the sample ballot to talk with their neighbors, friends, and political groups to see how they should vote, because frankly, the language is so confusing many times. Judy England stated she is nervous and is not a public speaker, so she is hoping God gives her the right words to say; she really appreciates Commissioner Feltner and Goodson’s vote from before; she really appreciates what Commissioner Steele has done today; she knows the Board is concerned, but Brevard County has a nationally recognized Supervisor of Elections Office; Brevard County’s elections are smooth; she takes her ballot, because she is old and when she gets in there she gets confused, she takes her ballot and marks it; she is in and out, people are not waiting on her; and she is glad the Board is considering the public tonight. She thanked the Board again, and stated God bless everyone. Marcie Adkins stated she likes Commissioner Tobia’s idea, but then she thought about it, being a poll worker herself, and seeing people come in with the live ballots and wanting to use that to vote from, so she thinks that is a problem; she loves her sample ballot; and she would appreciate having them for everyone. Theo Adkins stated he thinks the Board has already satisfied him; he wants sample ballots; he uses them; and most of the people he knows that vote, especially the retired ones, use them. Eileen Sepp stated she loves the sample ballots because prior to them being issued, she used to spend so much time trying to find who was who and what everything was about; her last ballot was four pages, and if she had not had that with her it probably would have taken her an hour to cast her votes in Palm Bay; she mentioned she also has one issue with the postage for people who do the mail in ballots, and that is, to her it seems as though the County is charging people to vote; the cost for a citizen to put postage on that is far less than it will be for a government permitted bulk mail; and she does not think that is fair because she does not even use stamps, she pays everything online. She went on to say as far as the sample ballots go, if she does not get one, then she has to vote by mail, otherwise, she is going to spend an inordinate amount of time in that ballot box. John Hearton stated he wanted to thank Chair Pritchett for being a numbers person; he was researching this a little bit and saw that Massachusettes Institute of Technology (MIT) had basically an average of about 30 percent increase on Presidential election years, versus the 19 percent that he thinks Mr. Bobanic was asking for; it seems like he is doing his job and trying to save taxpayer money; secondly, as far as support to the sample ballots and the postage, they are in a situation where a lot of people do not necessarily have the opportunity to get out, there is an elderly population here, some in independent living and care facilities that need to have the opportunity to be able to do some research, take a look at who the people are that are going for the positions, and who is going to represent them; and not having that opportunity in time to research it becomes an issue. He added, obviously, if there is a situation where there is a charge for postage on top of that, it is yet another thing being asked of the seniors to do and trying to get out to the postal service to make sure they have enough stamps and so forth to address the problem; that is his two cents; and he is in favor of the sample ballots as well as the postage. Diane Locklair stated she is one of those people who receive a mail-in ballot and then bring it to the polls on election day and surrender it because she does not trust the elections any longer, since 2020, and even before then; she saw things that she had never seen before; she has been voting since she was legally allowed to; she has been in this area her life, minus 10 years; she has been a poll watcher the last three election cycles; and she has observed people bring their sample ballots to the poll and when they get to their private space with their ballot they pull it out and use it to transpose onto the actual ballot, and she does the same. She mentioned she uses that as a research beginning, to talk to her sister, brother, her other relatives, her friends, and her groups; she takes care of a lot of elders in her family and they have the wits and the ability to vote but they do not have the means for internet, online, go to the store, or any of that stuff; this puts disability people and elders in a terrible disadvantage and it sends the wrong message with all this election integrity concern going rampant in this country; and she thinks this is the wrong time to be cutting something that has been a long established and very well appreciated help. Pamela Castellana stated she is going to be in agreement with the whole room but her party’s voice is going to be heard too; she thanked the Board for acknowledging the voice of the voters; she stated she actually communicates with Republicans a lot; she is the chair of the Democrats, but when it comes to voter education, like a lot of issues in this County, it is all partisan; and in an era when people are urging more civic education in schools in the hopes of encouraging more civic engagement and better educated voters, she asked why one would even consider taking away the money required to provide the simplest, free, voter educational tools for the voters. Connie Smith stated she is there to respectfully ask Commissioners Pritchett, Steele, and Tobia to reconsider their votes to cut the $318,223 from the SOE budget; this request is about making sure voters have as much information as possible to make informed decisions when they fill out their ballots; she knows everyone says this, but this next election may be the most critical election of people’s lifetime; and she asked the Board to please not take away discretionary money form the SOE Office that covers the mailing of sample ballots and vote-by-mail return postage. She continued by saying people know that every four years there are Federal elections, so there are more elections to cover; it makes sense that the SOE budget would increase every four years, then drop back after the Federal election cycle; it is also her understanding that Brevard County has extensive commercial and residential construction projects that have been completed in the County, adding billions of dollars to the tax rolls; therefore, there is money to fund the SOE. She noted it is also her understanding that there are, in the proposed budget, seven new renovated fire stations; and she can go through the list of the proposed budget but everyone is getting a tax rate reducation for the property tax if it is passed, which is wonderful. Vicki Impoco stated she is there to add her voice to the growing chorus of Brevard County citizens in support of SOE, Tim Bobanic’s proposed budget; the Commissioner’s 3:2 vote to cut funding from the SOE Office to mail out sample ballots and provide paid postage is a disservice to the Board’s constituents; her husband and herself rely on the sample ballots to research not only the candidates, but any municipal, County, and State-wide amendments that they are unfamiliar with; and filling out the sample ballots and taking them with them to the polls streamlines the process and ensures they are informed voters. She noted 32.9 percent of Brevard County voters voted by mail in the 2022 general election; all of these voters benefited from the election’s office providing paid postage for the return of their ballots; Commissioner Steele stated that if voters want the convenience of voting by mail and value their vote, they can stick a stamp on the ballot envelope before mailing it in; and she strongly disagrees, paid postage helps many seniors who are no longer able to go to a post office to obtain stamps, to return their ballots, as well as those in the community who are disabled or have health issues. She added Florida Statute 101.62 additionally has limits on who can help a voter return their vote-by-mail ballots; a voter’s ability to reach a post office should not be a determining factor on their ability to cast a vote in their preferred method; she would like to thank her Commissioner, Rob Feltner and Vice-chair Tom Goodson for the votes; and she sincerely hopes that Chair Rita Pritchett and Commissioner Steele reverse their votes to fully fund the SOE. Clarence Whipple, Jr. stated he is in support of maintaining the finances for the SOE; he asked the Board to please do what is right for the citizens in this community and provide them the opportunity to be prepared when they come to vote; he went on to say sending the sample ballots is the right thing to do; he sent Chair Pritchett some communications, he does not know if she received it or not, but he can hopefully do it here in the matter of one minute and 15 seconds; and he read, “This communication is to request that your vote to maintain the revenue needed to continue the practice of mailing sample ballots to your constituents and all qualified voters is a must. The budget for the SOE makes more sense to fund than to defund. We ask that on behalf of the citizens of this community, that you maintain those funds. Please consider this request as one that supports all citizens of the community. Funding the issue has more advantage for all people, than disadvantage for a chosen few.” He thanked the Board for reconsidering the issue and stated hopefully, the Board can vote to give the people’s desire. Diana Schommer stated she is a member of the Election Integrity Committee of Brevard Republican Executive Committee (BREC); this is all really very simple, she just wants her sample ballot; she uses it, she does research with it, and she has a group of people who always come to her because they know she puts a lot of time into the amendments and the individuals; she wants to be prepared for them, not just to tell them to vote for something, but why to vote for something or why to vote against something and what her research shows; she really uses that sample ballot to a great degree; and she counts on it. She continued on to say she is immensely happy with Commissioner Steele; she is very glad to see that he understands the older people; the $318,223 is out of a $2.04 billion budget and is only .016 percent of the budget and yet it will negatively impact every voter in the County; it really is an issue of importance for all of the voters; it really needs to happen; she feels like the other things she was going to say, she is going to leave out, because she is going to be nicer, and this sounds like it is going to turn out happy; and she hopes it does.

    Discussion and Adoption of the County’s Final Budget Resolution for FY 2023-2024

    $70,800

  • Agenda item D.5.Budget and financeapproved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to consider adoption of the of the final millage resolutions for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024 for the Dependent Special Taxing Districts. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Item requests that the Board adopt the attached resolutions establishing final millages for FY 2023-2024 for those Dependent Special Districts for which the County levies a millage; and authorize the Chair to sign the resolutions; and Florida Statute 200.065 allows the Board to adopt tax levies for all Dependent Special Taxing Districts by a single vote, unless separate votes are requested by a member of the public. There being no comments or objections, the Board adopted the following Resolutions establishing final millages for Dependent Special Taxing Districts for Fiscal Year 2023-2024: Resolution No. 23-103 Brevard County Free Public Library District 23-104 Brevard Mosquito Control District 23-105 Recreation Special District IV - Operations and Maintenance 23-106 Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority 23-107 South Brevard Recreation Special District – Operating 23-108 North Brevard Recreation Special District – Operating

    Adoption of the Final Millage Resolutions for FY 2023-2024 for Dependent Special Taxing Districts

  • Agenda item D.6.Budget and financeapproved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to consider adoption of resolutions approving the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024 final budgets for the County Dependent Special Districts. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Item requests that the Board adopt the attached resolutions adopting the final budgets for FY 2023-2024 for the County’s Dependent Special Districts; authorize the Chair to sign the resolutions; and Florida Statute 200.065 allows the Board to adopt budgets for all Dependent Special Taxing Districts by a single vote unless separate votes are requested by a member of the public. Sandra Sullivan stated earlier today she had emailed the County as North Brevard Economic Development Zone (NBEDZ) was not in here; she sees it has been added and thanked staff for that; she wanted to point out that NBEDZ was created in 2011 to help stimulate Titusville; the County is taxing small businesses throughout Brevard County, and while this may have been appropriate to get the space industry back on its feet with stimulating businesses and more diversified businesses here, she does not think it is relevant today to continue taxing the small businesses, especially when the County is giving it to billion dollar corporations; the Board gave $8 million to Blue Origin for example, one of the richest men in the world, on the backs of small businesses; and now, Titusville has recovered and the space industry is doing great. She continued by saying 41 percent is coming from District 2; what she hears from the District 2 people is they would like to see the money go to Merritt Island; there is 26 percent coming from District 4; as she said, this District in the Ordinance and why it was created, it was created to be a special district for District 1; that changed over some time and they have some in District 2 now in the North Merritt Island Space Coast of Space Florida; and that part she calls into question when the City of Titusville appoints three people and the County appoints three people, but those three people are approved by the City of Titusville; and at this time, she wants to request that 10 years is more than sufficient to fund the problem identified in 2011 and that ordinance has been resolved, and for the Board’s consideration to bring $11 million back to the budget. There being no further comments or objections, the Board adopted the following Resolutions adopting final budgets for Dependent Special Districts for Fiscal Year 2023-2024: Resolution No. 23-109 Brevard County Free Public Library District 23-110 Brevard Mosquito Control District 23-111 Recreation Special District IV - Operations and Maintenance 23-112 Titusville-Cocoa Airport Authority 23-113 South Brevard Recreation Special District 23-114 North Brevard Recreation Special District 23-115 Merritt Island Redevelopment Agency 23-116 Barefoot Bay Water and Sewer District 23-117 Melbourne-Tillman Water Control District 23-118 North Brevard Economic Development Zone 23-119 A. Max Brewer Memorial Law Library

    Adoption of Resolutions Approving the FY 2023-2024 Final Budgets for Dependent Special Districts

    $8

  • Agenda item D.7.Other meeting itemsapproved - Chair Pritchett called for a public hearing to consider the authorization of the County Manager to execute the Florida Department of Revenue Truth in Millage (TRIM) Compliance Forms on behalf of the County. Frank Abbate, County Manager, stated this Item is a request for the Chair to entertain a motion for the County Manager, or his designee, to execute all letters and exhibits necessary to establish that Brevard County has complied with Section 200.065 and 218.63 Florida Statutes, the Truth in Millage Law. There being no comments or objections, the Board authorized the County Manager to execute the Florida Department of Revenue TRIM Compliance Forms on behalf of the County; and authorized the authority and obligation to assemble all components of the ‘TRIM Compliance Package’ and to transmit the same to the appropriate Department of Revenue authorities.

    Authorization for the County Manager to Execute TRIM Compliance Forms

  • Agenda item F.1.Budget and financeapproved - Joseph Faella, Mosquito Control Director, stated Mosquito Controls budget was just approved for $13,601,406; he is requesting that the Board authorize the Chair to approve and execute the same budget but on State forms so they can be submitted to the Florida Department of Agriculture; this is required by Florida Statute for Brevard County to maintain its status as a certified Mosquito Control District. The Board executed and approved the State of Florida, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Annual Certified Budget for Arthropod Control (FDACS Form 13617, Rev. 07/13) for Fiscal Year October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.

    Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Agricultural Environmental Services, FY 2023-2024 Annual Certified Budget for Arthropod Control (All Districts)

    $13,601,406

  • Agenda item F.2.Budget and financeapproved - Fire Chief Patrick Voltaire, Fire Rescue, stated this Item is seeking Board approval of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Grant for Staffing of Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, known as SAFER, for nine positions that will be utilized to enhance the hazardous materials response for all of Brevard County; this is a three-year, no-match grant; and thereafter the positions will be funded by the Fire Rescue budget. The Board approved accepting funding for nine full-time positions for Brevard County Fire Rescue for DHS, FY 22 SAFER Grant program; and authorized the County Manager to execute all necessary documents or other administrative actions required to accept, secure, and execute the grant award, and delegated authority to approve any necessary Budget Change Requests.

    Board Approval: Acceptance of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant for nine (9) positions.

  • Agenda item F.3.Other meeting itemsapproved - Commissioner Goodson stated the intent of this is if any materials brought before the Board, it has to be in between Monday before the Tuesday meeting or Wednesday before the Thursday meeting; if anyone receives it in the Agenda Package, it cannot be discussed because it would violate sunshine law, and that would provide ample time or more time to study graphs or whatever a Commissioner might want to present; and Morris Richardson, County Attorney, is there to answer any questions. Chair Pritchett stated she is not going to support this just because if somebody comes with extra information that keeps her from messing up on a vote, she really needs to hear it from them because she cannot pick up a phone and call them; she would ask if there is new information that comes and there is not time to study it, that a motion be made to table it; and she is always going to vote in favor of tabling something if anyone needs more time for a discussion. Commissioner Feltner advised he will vote with Commissioner Goodson today because he likes the spirit of it, and he like Commissioner Goodson, receives information when he is up there and only has a few minutes to look at it before voting; he supports the Item; the one question he has is how would he suggest the Board Members handle it when they are confronted with better information maybe within hours of a Commission meeting, because he receives things pretty late; and he tries his best to consider all those things before the meeting. Commissioner Goodson stated the only way to deal with that is it could be tabled like Chair Pritchett stated; he has been on the Board since November and he has not seen that happen; he has seen a lot of stuff come up and have five minutes to make a decision and vote; all he is trying to do is make it a little easier and that there is ample time to study or ask staff to research something to make an honest vote, that is all; and even staff has to get their stuff in at a certain time, and no later. Chair Pritchett stated she does not mind what Commissioner Goodson is saying at all, she understands that; she just thinks the Board needs to get better at tabling if someone is not ready; and if the Board is getting ready to take a vote and someone has information, she really needs to have it because she wants to cause no harm and make sure she has all that information before voting. Commissioner Goodson stated here is a good example; the Board received this tonight from Commissioner Tobia, six or seven pages; and he asked if Chair Pritchett had enough time to study it. Chair Pritchett responded no, but he could have tabled it if he did not want to vote. Commissioner Goodson announced he did not have enough time either. Chair Pritchett noted it is still information that the Board might need to have; she does a lot of studying the whole day of meetings; if she puts something together she wants to provide it to the other Board members so they can see what she is thinking, because they are under sunshine; and it would be great if she could just pick up a phone and call them, but she cannot… Commissioner Goodson jokingly stated she can, he will not turn her in. Chair Pritchett replied she is not doing it. She went on to say any information someone can give her at a meeting, if she does not have time to absorb it, he made a motion one time and she was hung-up on it because she did not understand it and Commissioner Steele kind of helped by explaining it to her; she asked if that was it and it was; however if she does not know what she is doing, she is going to table it to the best of her ability, because she does not want to hurt anybody; as far as the Board Members bringing data, she wants them to bring it to her because she is counting on them to represent all the people they see; and that is where she is at with this. Commissioner Tobia stated he likes the spirit of this, he just has a question; ideally this seems to benefit his office a lot more than anyone else and the reason is his office places a lot of stuff on the Agenda; the question is, Commissioner Goodson decides to place something on the Agenda and he finds additional information that may support or detract from that argument, he has numerous Attorney General Opinions, that best practices does not allow him to disseminate that information by adding an attachment to the Agenda, and if he does not want to go or the newspaper does not call because it is not newspaper worthy, or Twitter, what would his suggestion be for him to hand that out. He inquired if he cannot attach it and he cannot get that message out, is not bringing it to the meeting as a handout the only way he would have the ability to do that. Commissioner Goodson stated he has never known Commissioner Tobia to not fail by speaking bluntly and knowing what he is going to talk about; he hands out a lot of stuff and he is good at it and he does good research; he would guess he would do as the Chair says and table it; he does not want to take away from Commissioner Tobia, he is good at research, but he does hand out a lot of stuff; this is a prime example; he thinks it is seven pages, and Commissioner Tobia knew it and talked about it; and he is sure people believed him. Commissioner Tobia stated Commissioner Steele knows this, but Commissioner Goodson and himself had the benefit of bill drafting and it was amazing that they could send an idea up there and they would have it wonderfully drafted; they would send a couple paragraphs and it would end up being drafted as 21 pages; the Senate sends up a blank and nothing comes back, they throw whatever the heck they want in it; his question about the way this is drafted, and he knows he did not have the advantage of bill drafting… Commissioner Goodson stated he has his best bill drafter sitting right here. Commissioner Tobia went on to say he does not know if he is going to… Commissioner Goodson interjected if Commissioner Tobia is knocking him he is knocking the County Attorney. Commissioner Tobia continued by saying the way he reads this is Monday, there is no time certain, and Monday ends at 11:59 P.M. Commissioner Goodson stated oh, no. Commissioner Tobia stated you say oh, no, but that is the way it is drafted. Commissioner Goodson commented at his age he is in bed at 7:00 P.M. Commissioner Tobia stated he can make it any time he wants, but that is not the way it reads. Commissioner Goodson stated closing time for the County; and it does not refer to that but that was the intent. Commissioner Tobia advised intent and law are two different things. Commissioner Goodson agreed. Commissioner Tobia mentioned let us take a step further; if he makes it 5:00 P.M., and he is trying to get this in a good place. Commissioner Goodson responded affirmatively. Commissioner Tobia continued by saying he emails it to staff at 4:59, and he asked if that is fair on staff to get something at 4:59, run it by management; he likes the intent; and the follow-through on this was not there. Chair Pritchett asked Commissioner Tobia, to the best of his ability to try to get it on the Agenda before; she stated here is the thing, if the Board is going to be discussing, sometimes it is easier for her to type something out and hand it to the Board with what she is getting ready to say; she thinks any time the Board stops communication, it has not done a good service for the public as far as revealing what each person is thinking; and Commissioner Goodson should really, if he gets things and it is overwhelming at the time, and she has done it in the past, just say he wants to table it; and she noted he will have her as a second every time. Commissioner Goodson added the Board could go, with Commissioner Tobia’s concerns, Thursday prior to the Tuesday Board meeting, that is County staff’s requirements; he understands and he is thrilled if he understood Commissioner Feltner to say he likes him; and he asked if Commissioner Feltner said that. Chair Pritchett commented they all like him. Commissioner Feltner noted he has always liked him. He mentioned he thinks he understands where Commissioner Goodson is going with this; and he asked what if there is something that says not to exceed two pages. Commissioner Goodson commented he does not think it would matter because a lot of stuff can go on two pages. Commissioner Feltner mentioned he thinks for the purpose of passing his issues, he would do well to make the text big. Commissioner Goodson stated let him go back and rework it and bring it back. Chair Pritchett stated he has her word if he wants to table something with material she will second it. Commissioner Goodson stated what scares him is that she will not be there forever. Chair Pritchett stated she feels really bad for the rest of them because they will be running these meetings. Commissioner Goodson stated not to worry, it will be a lot of fun. The Board tabled amendment to BCC-97, Board Meeting Rules and Procedures, to provide Commissioner Goodson additional rework time for material submittal to an Agenda Item at a BoCC meeting.

    Amendment to BCC-97, Board Meeting Rules and Procedures, to provide for material submittal to an agenda item at a Board of County Commissioners Meeting

  • Agenda item G.2.Other meeting itemsapproved - Chair Pritchett expressed her appreciation to the County Attorney. Morris Richardson thanked her. He stated Property Appraiser Blickley brought an issue to his attention that because of some legislation that passed in the last session, the Board is going to need to remove certain agricultural properties from the non-ad valorem assessment rolls; this will affect agricultural properties with no residence located on them; he is going to bring back an Agenda Item to formalize this correction at the first October meeting; he is reporting it now just to let the Board know what is happening, so that staff can begin the process of transmitting corrected data to the Property Appraiser, so she can send that on to the Tax Collector in a timely manner; his preliminary evaluation is that this will result in approximately $80,000 less in stormwater non-ad valorem assessment revenues; and he is working with the Property Appraiser and Tax Collector on this. He added he appreciates the time Ms. Blickley and Ms. Cullen spent with him on the phone today working through this and other issues, it was very helpful. Chair Pritchett inquired if these are the properties that nobody lives on, correct. Attorney Richardson responded affirmatively; and he mentioned they might have other improvements like a pole barn or something, but no residences associated with them.

    Morris Richardson, County Attorney

    $80,000

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